本文发表在 rolia.net 枫下论坛Jan. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Financial stocks staged their biggest two-day rally in more than five years on speculation Federal Reserve's biggest interest rate cut in 23 years will bolster earnings at banks, brokerages and insurers.
Bank of America Corp. and JPMorgan Chase & Co., the biggest U.S. lenders by market value, rallied after Bear Stearns Cos. advised buying shares of large banks. Ambac Financial Group Inc. climbed the most among financial companies in the Standard & Poor's 500 Index after New York State's insurance regulators met with banks to discuss raising new capital for bond insurers.
Financial companies posted the biggest gains among 10 industries in the S&P 500 as the benchmark for U.S. equities rallied for the first time in six days. The 92-member S&P 500 Financials Index rose 6.9 percent, bringing its two-day advance to 9.3 percent since the Fed cut its target rate for overnight loans by 0.75 percentage point, its first emergency reduction since 2001.
The Fed move ``is a good sign and that's giving some investors courage to tiptoe back in,'' said Keith Wirtz, who oversees about $22 billion as chief investment officer of Fifth Third Asset Management in Cincinnati. ``The group is so out of favor, it's almost like a spring that's been coiled tightly. When a rotation starts to occur, that coil will relax and you'll see these stocks up substantially.''
Bear Stearns Upgrade
JPMorgan climbed $5.01, or 12 percent, to $45.87, its biggest one-day rally since July 2002.
Bank of America added $3.25, or 8.7 percent, to $40.64, its biggest gain in more than nine years. The company said it plans to raise $6 billion by selling preferred shares.
Bear Stearns analyst David Hilder upgraded banks to ``market overweight'' from ``market underweight,'' saying that lenders have historically outperformed during ``aggressive'' Fed easing cycles.
``In looking back at bank stock relative performance in the 1990 recession, it is clear that the trigger for bank-stock outperformance was the beginning of more aggressive Fed easing,'' Hilder wrote in a note to investors today. ``We believe additional downside in bank stocks is limited.''
Hilder's top picks were JPMorgan and Bank of New York Mellon Corp. He said the companies would benefit from lower exposure to bad real estate loans than their rivals. Bank of New York, the world's largest custodian of financial assets, rose $1.29 to $46.34.
Bond Insurers
Ambac, which was stripped of its top AAA grade by Fitch Ratings this month, gained $4.54, or 57 percent, to $12.51. Talks in New York with the unnamed banks are part of Insurance Superintendent Eric Dinallo's effort to stabilize the bond guarantors and bolster the market's financial condition, said agency spokesman Andrew Mais in an interview. MBIA Inc., the biggest bond insurer, added $4.20 to $16.74.
Financial stocks in the Standard & Poor's 500 Index slid 21 percent last year for their biggest slide since 1990.
Yesterday's reduction by the Fed was the biggest since October 1984, when the central bank lowered rates by 1.75 percentage point. The Fed began using target overnight lending rate as the principal tool of monetary policy around 1990.更多精彩文章及讨论，请光临枫下论坛 rolia.net