JPM

JP Morgan Chase & CO

Wall Street

The One Bank Worth Playing Right Now - and How to Play It

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Financials pulled a world-class fakeout last week, and that's important for what's coming next.

You see, on Thursday, markets looked like they were giving up; the major indexes broke through near-term support, and some important psychological support levels were pierced.

The breaking news was that China's exports had fallen 10%. So industrials, materials, and commodities took the brunt of the selling. China is always a barometer of global growth, because it does lots of the globe's growing. And so with news of China's export fall-off, financials were set to release their earnings amid an "atmosphere of reduced expectations," to put it mildly.

Of course, those expectations have been carefully stage-managed and downplayed all along – there's that psychology again.

Then on Friday, starting with JPMorgan Chase & Co. before the open, the banks let fly with their earnings, and things got "interesting"...

Wall Street

Wells Fargo Scam Not Unique - Other Banks Do the Same Thing

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The evidence is mounting that the Wells Fargo scam was not unusual practice in the banking industry, which means investors need to brace for similar scandals at other banks.

The heavy pressure on workers to "cross-sell" multiple products to the same customer is what got Wells Fargo into hot water – and is accepted practice at most consumer banks.

These are the banks most likely to end up in regulators' crosshairs next...