still think the financial sector is still a value trap? The financials will lead us out of this....Maybe the big boys are just putting one toe in at a time.
XLF is going to lead us out of this storm just as they led us into it. Financials were showing good signs of reversal around September, but look what happened. It's a positive that the writedowns from C and BAC weren't as bad as first presumed. Gasparino was calling for a $24 Billion write down from C. He needs to recheck his sources, but looks like he could use some sleep first.
Here's the thing as with any investment... What is your time horizon? I think financials are at great levels and have been walking the talk the whole way down. (There is
no such thing as a safe, non speculative investment.) Run a stockscreen with the S&P 500 as the index membership and minimum dividend yield of 4% and take a look at the results. Now for example, even with C's dividend cut, it's still paying 5% yield. You can probably write off those ones at the top as being unsafe. I think WB is something like 14% yield. USB, BAC, WFC, JPM, C.... Excellent times to be watching these stocks for an entry. If you like the trading aspect, take a look at MER, BSC, LEH, but tread carefully with those companies as they really made some leveraged bets that are probably still looming. I'm hoping the river card was dealt in this mess when BAC decided to acquire CFC. Maybe it will turn out to be the ace of spades.
I'm not a subscriber to the following methods stated, but as with the Dogs of the Dow theory, there are numerous modern theories that include the Dogs of the S&P 500, S&P 100, etc. They all seem to be based on dividend yield and index membership.
As far as accumulation/distribution of the financials.... your guess is as good as mine. I'm
sure there are some Mutual Fund Managers establishing positions within the Financials every day. You'll never know how many MM's are building positions by watching charts, these guys are to smart to show their hand. With these companies getting destroyed the way they have lately, a lot of holders that at one time claimed to be long term investors gave in and folded to the media pressure.
Again, only my opinion, but as a long term investor you will be rewarded in these financials. Over time some of these giants will eventually begin to spin off various components of the company to the shareholder. One more thing. A dividend is real. Earnings and EPS of non dividend paying stocks can be manipulated. Even though a dividend may get cut it will still be something real that you can hold in your possession. When is CSCO going to pay out a dividend? Until it does, the stock is merely a trade.