Bank of America: Financial Winners & Losers
NEW YORK (
) --
Bank of America
(BAC) - Get Report
and a handful of other bank stocks traded lower Friday after a firm cut estimates for the first quarter.
Goldman Sachs lowered first-quarter estimates
on major banks with capital markets exposure by an average of 15% due to a "choppy start" to 2010.
Goldman Sachs cut estimates for Bank of America and
JPMorgan Chase
(JPM) - Get Report
, both of which are on the firm's conviction buy list, as well as
Morgan Stanley
(MS) - Get Report
,
Jefferies
(JEF) - Get Report
and
Piper Jaffray
(PJC) - Get Report
.
Goldman Sachs was still upbeat on its outlook for 2010, with analysts saying they continue to have a positive view on the outlook for capital markets activity despite a weak February.
Still, that wasn't enough to buoy shares of the bank stocks. Bank of America was down 1.8% to $16.77, JPMorgan was off 0.9% to $43.24, and Morgan Stanley slipped 0.7% to $29.87.
Meanwhile, Jefferies shares were sliding 2.3% to $26, and Piper Jaffray was down 2.3% to $43.89.
In other financial sector news, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman Sheila Bair said Friday that she has "serious concerns" about the financial reform plan being crafted by the Senate.
Bair's concerns stem from what she says are too many potential loopholes for "backdoor bailouts." She added that banks should be kept from being able to grow "too big to fail."
Among other financial stocks trading lower Friday,
Citigroup
(C) - Get Report
fell 1.7% to $3.95,
American International Group
(AIG) - Get Report
lost 1.6% to $34.08,
Goldman Sachs
(GS) - Get Report
slid 0.8% to $176.10, and
Wells Fargo
(WFC) - Get Report
slipped 0.7% to $30.07.
Winners of the financial sector Friday included
Lloyds Banking Group
(LYG) - Get Report
, said its banking net interest margin "is trending in line with recent guidance and this has supported a good level of income growth" and that it expects to be profitable in 2010.
Lloyds added that costs remain under control and impairment provisions are trending lower than expected.
Lloyds shares were up 7.6% to $3.67. Other European bank stocks followed higher, with
Royal Bank of Scotland
(RBS) - Get Report
up 2.6% to $13.22 and
Allied Irish Bank
(AIB)
higher by 1.7% to $4.19.
-- Written by Robert Holmes in Boston
.
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