SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Bank stocks have fallen sharply over the past four months as the sector grapples with calls for tighter regulation and stalling loan growth, putting the broader market’s recovery in jeopardy.
Since peaking in early February, the financial stocks on the S&P 500 XX:GSPFI +1.04% have dropped 13% as of Monday’s close, meeting the technical definition of a correction, and outpaced the S&P 500’s /quotes/zigman/3870025 SPX +1.49% 5% decline for the same period. For the quarter, a 9% pullback in financial stocks has made the sector the worst of 10 industry groups on the index of large-cap stocks.
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