We have compiled basic earnings previews and shown Thomson Reuters estimates from the following: Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS); State Street Corporation (NYSE: STT); Bank Of New York Mellon Corp. (NYSE: BK); U.S. Bancorp (NYSE: USB); Northern Trust Corporation (NASDAQ: NTRS); American Express Co. (NYSE: AXP); Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC); Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS); and Capital One Financial Corporation (NYSE: COF).

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) is set to report earnings on Wednesday morning and the earnings estimates have been coming down more than just marginally ahead of the expected earnings report.  It is no longer expected to have the name “Golden Slacks” attached as a nickname right now.  The current target is $1.24 EPS on $6.54 billion in sales, but the earnings targets were above $2.00 EPS recently and the street expected almost $3.00 just about 90 days ago.

State Street Corporation (NYSE: STT) is set to report earnings on Wednesday morning and the consensus estimate for the trust and custodial bank is expected to rise about 8% to $0.94 EPS.  Bank Of New York Mellon Corp. (NYSE: BK) is set to report earnings on Wednesday morning and the earnings estimates are $0.53 EPS and $3.75 billion in revenues.  We will be waiting to see if any of the charges to trust and custodial customers taking the cash holdings operations to a cost rather than as an interest bearing account will have made a difference.  That seems to have gone away but it may have just been lost in the shuffle.

U.S. Bancorp (NYSE: USB) is expected to report earnings on Wednesday morning.  The estimates are $0.63 EPS on $4.76 billion in sales.  Northern Trust Corporation (NASDAQ: NTRS) is also due Wednesday morning and estimates are $0.68 EPS and $972.3 million.

American Express Co. (NYSE: AXP) is due on Thursday after the close and earnings estimates are $0.98 EPS and $7.92 billion in sales.  As with the rest of the lenders and credit cards, we expect to hear continued improvements in credit metrics regarding the customer base.

Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC) is due to report on Thursday morning.  The most unpopular of the big ‘too big to fail’ money-center banks in America, has a consensus earnings estimate of $0.23 EPS on $24.08 billion in revenues.  This has been the best DJIA stock so far in 2012 even including the last two trading sessions.  It is a bit more than just interesting that earnings estimates have ratcheted higher over the last ten days when estimates elsewhere have been cut so much in banking.  The huge discount to book value is again likely to be less material than in years passed.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) is set to report on Thursday morning as well.  Long gone is worrying about the relative book value and long gone is the comparison to Goldman Sachs.  Estimates are for a loss at -$0.57 EPS and $5.57 billion in revenues.

Capital One Financial Corporation (NYSE: COF) is due to report earning on Thursday and this is the credit card bank “for the rest of America.”  The earnings report could be wildly far off of estimates because the bank is in the process of acquisitions which could greatly skew the headline numbers.  A fresh SEC filing showed that monthly data showed a continued improvement in default rates and in late payments in December. The consensus estimate is $1.55 EPS and $4.08 billion in sales.

JON C. OGG

Beazer Homes USA, Inc. (NYSE: BZH) Cut to Underperform at Credit Suisse.
BHP Billiton Limited (NYSE: BHP) Started as Buy at Goldman Sachs.
Carnival Corporation (NYSE: CCL) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
FedEx Corporation (NYSE: FDX) Cut to Hold at Jefferies.
General Growth Properties (NYSE: GGP) Raised to Buy at Stifel Nicolaus.
Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
Linear Technology Corporation (NASDAQ: LLTC) Cut to Underweight at JPMorgan.
Logitech International SA (NASDAQ: LOGI) Cut to Underweight at JPMorgan.
Meritage Homes Corporation (NYSE: MTH) Cut to Underperform at Credit Suisse.
Panera Bread Co. (NASDAQ: PNRA) Raised to Overweight at Morgan Stanley.
Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan (NYSE: POT) Raised to Sector Outperform at CIBC.
Ryland Group Inc. (NYSE: RYL) Cut to Underperform at Credit Suisse.
Steel Dynamics Inc. (NASDAQ: STLD) Started as Buy at Deutsche Bank.
Stifel Financial Corporation (NYSE: SF) Raised to Buy with $37 target at Goldman Sachs.
Tesla Motors, Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) Raised to Buy at Wunderlich.
U.S. Bancorp (NYSE: USB) Cut to Neutral at Citigroup.
Wynn Resorts Ltd. (NASDAQ: WYNN) Raised to Positive at Susquehanna.

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JON C. OGG

M&T Bank Corporation (NYSE: MTB) is 5.38+ million shares, UP ONLY A TAD from the 5.363 million last quarter but this one had been cut in prior quarters.
Mastercard Inc. (NYSE: MA) was 405,000 shares valued at $128.45 million.  The position is the SAME AS last quarter but still almost double from the quarter before.
Moody’s Corp. (NYSE: MCO) was 28.4 million; SAME AS last quarter but way down from prior quarters and years.
Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG) was 76.7 million shares and listed as THE SAME as last quarter but lower than the 96.3 million shares in prior quarters.
Sanofi-Aventis (NYSE: SNY) was 4.06 million shares; SAME AS before.
Torchmark Corp. (NYSE: TMK) was more than 4.2 million, a LARGER POSITION than the 2.82 million shares last quarter.
US Bancorp (NYSE: USB) was roughly 69 million shares; SAME AS before.
USG Corp. (NYSE: USG) was 17.072 million shares; SAME AS before.
United Parcel Service (NYSE: UPS) was 1.429 million shares; SAME AS before.
Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ: VRSK) was ALMOST DOUBLE in shares at 4.202 million worth $146.1 million versus the 2,101,125 shares a quarter before when it had been started as a new position.
Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) is a NEW POSITION of 2.291 million shares worth $96.44 million.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) was just over 39 million shares; SAME AS before after having been raised in 2010.
Washington Post (NYSE: WPO) was over 1.72 million shares; SAME AS before and Buffett kept his word so far about holding the Washington Post shares despite stepping down from its board.
Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC) over 361 million shares a HIGHER POSITION than the 352+ million last quarter.

PAGE ONE…BUFFETT HOLDINGS ‘A to K’

As noted earlier… today’s holding disclosure has missing data as Berkshire Hathaway was given permission and likely still does not include the full holdings: Confidential information has been omitted from the Form 13F and filed separately with the Commission.

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The largest bank in the U.S., for now, is one of 17 financial firms being sued by the the Federal Housing Finance Agency for failing to disclose risks of mortgage-backed securities sold to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. It appeared Moynihan had settled one of Bank of America’s most other critical challenges. The bank reached an agreement with large mortgage investors, which included Pimco and Blackrock (NYSE: BLK), over mortgage values. The cost of the settlement was to be $8.5 billion. The agreement was effectively blocked in federal court by a number of homeowners. There is a likelihood that more suits about Bank of America’s mortgage practices will be filed between now and year end.

No matter what Moynihan does, the market remains skeptical, which is why the bank’s board is increasingly likely to replace him. Even after Buffett’s investment and the China Bank of Construction sale, Bank of America’s shares are barely above $7. It traded for over $19 a year ago last April.

The number of people qualified to run a huge international bank is relatively small. The number that Wall St. would approve of is much smaller. Based on skills and recent accomplishments, these are the six people most likely to be approached for the job.

Heidi Miller was one of Jamie Diamond’s long-time senior operating executives. Miller has been named American Banker’s most powerful female bank executive. Miller has also been on Fortune’s 50 Most Powerful Women list . More important than the praise are her success at JPMorgan (NYSE: JPM) and her availability. Miller “retired” recently as the head of JPMorgan International. She ran the bank’s Treasury and Security Services, and sat on the bank’s 15-person operating committee.

Susan Wagner is the Vice Chairman of Blackrock, arguably the best-run publicly traded financial company in the U.S. Wagner is also a member of the corporate Risk Committee at Blackrock. Blackrock is the world’s largest money manager and oversees $3.6 trillion. Her mentor has been Wall St. legend Laurence Fink. Wagner may be able to rely on her relationships with several powerful members of the Blackrock board, which includes the head of Barclays and former CEO of Merrill Lynch, which Bank of America bought during the credit crisis. Her risk management background is critical.

Michael L. Corbat is CEO of Citi Holdings, which is the “bad bank” created in 2009 to wall off some of Citigroup’s (NYSE: C) less desirable assets. Corbat’s management experience is as broad as anyone’s in the bank business. He was an investment banker for most of his career. He then ran the huge Global Wealth Management division at Citigroup. And he took on Citi’s weakest portfolio companies — the CitiFinancial and CitiMortgage finance operations, Primerica insurance unit, and, in addition, $300 billion of distressed assets.

Richard K. Davis is the CEO U.S. Bancorp (NYSE: USB), which is the sixth largest bank in the U.S. U.S. Bancorp has been considered one of the best run American banks for years. It did not get into many of the risky businesses that its larger peers did, and its stock was not nearly as badly hurt as those of other large banks during the credit crisis. Research firm Morningstar recently wrote, “U.S. Bancorp is in a league of its own. Its large fee-based businesses, conservative underwriting, and management’s ability to recognize opportunity during crisis set the company apart from its peers.”

Frank P. Bramble, Sr., is the former vice chairman of MBNA, and is a current Bank of America board member. He held the vice chairman’s job when Bank of America bought the company in 2005 for $35 billion. When the federal government orchestrated a restructuring of the Bank of America board, which included the addition of four new members, Bramble was well-regarded enough to be retained. Bramble has been head of the U.S. operations of Allied Irish Bank Group and chairman of Allfirst Financial. Perhaps the thing that recommends him the most to be head of Bank of America is his experience as a long-time board member.

John Mack is the best candidate to run Bank of America and the least likely to take the job. He is the chairman of Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) and was its CEO during the credit crisis. He is widely credited with actions that kept the investment firm independent when bank stocks collapsed. Mack has been co-CEO of Credit Suisse Group (NYSE: CS) and chief executive of Credit Suisse First Boston. Mack is the current dean of Wall St. leadership. If he were to take the CEO job at Bank of America, it would be viewed even more positively than Warren Buffett’s investment.

Douglas A. McIntyre

• Read The Ten Best Cities For Educated Workers

However, there are a number of metropolitan areas in the country that have exceptionally small education gaps, or “shortages of educated workers relative to employer demand,” according to the report “Education, Demand, and Unemployment in Metropolitan America” by the Brookings Institution. These areas tend to have a large number of highly educated workers available to meet rising demand.

As a result, these cities often have lower unemployment rates than the national average, which was 9.1% as of July 2011. “Highly educated metropolitan areas like Salt Lake City, Raleigh, Indianapolis, and Knoxville have avoided very high unemployment rates despite having high concentrations of jobs in industries that were hit hard during the recession,” Jonathan Rothwell, one of the report’s authors, told 24/7 Wall St. “The reason, in large part, is that the average worker in those areas has enough education to meet the needs of the average job.” In cities such as Boston and Madison, which are major educational hubs, a cycle is formed. They produce lots of educated people and provide lots of jobs for educated people.

There are still some cities with small education gaps that do not have exceptionally low unemployment rates. This is the result of unavoidable economic forces. San Francisco, for instance, was badly damaged when the housing bubble burst — the same crash that has hurt so much of California. San Jose’s unemployment rate remains high because its manufacturing base was hit especially hard during the recession.

24/7 Wall St. has analyzed the ten metropolitan areas in the Brookings report with the smallest education gaps. We looked at what causes these areas to have highly educated residents and how their education levels are affecting the areas’ unemployment rates. We then looked at numbers for median household income from the Census Bureau, all of which were higher than the national average of $51,425.

These are the cities where people are most qualified to work.

Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) knew of a suit by AIG (NYSE: AIG) since early this year, but did not disclose it. (Reuters)

Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM) and Russia’s Rosneft set a deal to seek oil and natural gas in the Arctic Circle area controlled by Russia. (Reuters)

A member of Congress says Irene relief must be offset by budget cuts. (Reuters)

Brent trades at $114 on hope of a U.S. stimulus package. (Reuters)

AT&T (NYSE: T) promises to add 5,000 jobs if its buyout of T-Mobile is approved. (Reuters)

Sony (NYSE: SNE), Toshiba and Hitachi (NYSE: HIT) to merge their small display units. (Reuters)

Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) to resume making TouchPad tablets. (Reuters)

Bank of America to get out of the mortgage correspondent business. (WSJ)

The SEC to review certain Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL) deals done overseas. (WSJ)

Traders in oil and other commodities may have to reveal details of their trades. (WSJ)

Fitch posts a warning about China’s banking system. (WSJ)

The National Labor Relations Board sides with unions in several recent cases, which draws criticism from some in Congress. (WSJ)

A demand by Finland for collateral before a bailout of Greece may still derail plans. (WSJ)

Nook sales help Barnes & Noble (NYSE: BKS) earnings. (WSJ)

Carl Icahn to sell his shares in Lions Gate Entertainment (NYSE: LGF).  (WSJ)

A new version of Boeing’s (NYSE: BA) 737 to be launched in 2017; the company says it has 496 commitments to purchase them. (WSJ)

EU banks raise $17.4 billion with an instrument similar to mortgage-backed securities. (WSJ)

The International Accounting Standards Board says some EU banks have not written down Greek loans enough. (WSJ)

Home builders may run out of capital as the housing market enters a fifth year of falling prices. (WSJ)

Ford (NYSE: F) to supply Zipcar autos for use on college campuses. (NYT)

US Bancorp (NYSE: USB) sues to block an $8.5 billion mortgage settlement from Bank of America. (FT)

Sony to release a line of tablet PCs to challenge Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL). (Bloomberg)

Douglas A. McIntyre

Mastercard Inc. (NYSE: MA) was 405,000 shares, ALMOST DOUBLE from the 216,000 shares last quarter as a prior new position.  Now valued at $122 million.
M&T Bank Corporation (NYSE: MTB) is 5.363 million, SAME AS before but had been cut in prior quarters.
Moody’s Corp. (NYSE: MCO) was 28.4 million; SAME AS last quarter but this is down from prior reports as Moody’s is slowly getting cut.
Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG) was 76.7 million shares; SAME AS last quarter but lower than the 96.3 million shares in prior quarters.
Sanofi-Aventis (NYSE: SNY) was 4.06 million shares; SAME AS before.
Torchmark Corp. (NYSE: TMK) was 2.82 million shares; SAME AS before.
US Bancorp (NYSE: USB) was roughly 69 million shares; SAME AS before.
USG Corp. (NYSE: USG) was 17.072 million shares; SAME AS before.
United Parcel Service (NYSE: UPS) was 1.429 million shares; SAME AS before.
Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ: VRSK) was 2,101,125 shares, a NEW POSITION listed as $72.7 million as of June 30.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) was just over 39 million shares; SAME AS before after having been raised in 2010.
Washington Post (NYSE: WPO) was over 1.72 million shares; SAME AS before and Buffett kept his word so far about holding the Washington Post shares despite stepping down from its board.
Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC) was over 368.6 million; this one GREW AGAIN from the 358.9 million shares at March 31, 2011; was listed as over 342 Million shares one quarter earlier and over 336.4 million two quarters before that.

PAGE ONE…BUFFETT HOLDINGS ‘A to L’

As noted earlier… today’s holding disclosure has missing data as Berkshire Hathaway was given permission and likely still does not include the full holdings: Confidential information has been omitted from the Form 13F and filed separately with the Commission.  

Wesco Financial Corp. (NYSE: WSC) was not listed but that is because it was acquired by Berkshire.

You are invited to join our free daily email distribution list to hear more news on Buffett and other investment gurus, IPOs, secondary offerings, private  placements.

JON C. OGG

Shares sold short in JPMorgan (NYSE: JPM) rose 17% to 33.6 million. The short position in Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) was higher by 6% to 131.9 million. Short interest in Capital One (NYSE: COF) rose 143% to 29.6 million. Shares short in U.S. Bancorp (NYSE: USB ) were up 22% to 22 million.

Short sellers also increased positions in a number of large technology firms. Shares sold short in Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) rose 15% to 20.6 million. Shares short in Nokia (NYSE: NOK) rose 9% to 112 million. Shares sold short in Research In Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM) were up 18% to 36.2 million. Short interest in Seagate (NASDAQ: STX) rose 29% to 15.3 million. Shares short in embattled Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) rose 3% to 70.2 million. And short interest in Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) was higher by 8% to 11.8 million.

Short sellers pulled out of the major chip stocks. Short interest in Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) was off by 16% to 100.3 million. Shares sold short in Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) were down 32% to 20.5 million. Short interest in RF Micro (NASDAQ: RFMD) dropped 8% to 20.9 million. Short interest in Qualcomm (NASDAQ: QCOM) dropped 11% to 15. 6 million. Stocks in this sector have shown strength because the companies are providers to the rapidly growing smartphone industry.

Among other widely traded stocks, shares short in News Corp (NASDAQ: NWS) were up by 39% to 32.9 million. Short interest in Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL) fell 14% to 22.1 million. Shares sold short in troubled Eastman Kodak (NYSE: EK) rose 10% to 81.8 million. Short interest in the weakest of the large airlines, AMR (NYSE: AMR), rose 21% to 64.7 million. And short interest in Walmart (NYSE: WMT) rose 13% to 40.7 million.

Data from NYSE and NASDAQ

Douglas A. McIntyre

After running a screen on FinViz, we identified some of the “premium” banks close to or above book value as being M&T Bank Corporation (NYSE: MTB), New York Community Bancorp Inc. (NYSE: NYB), PNC Financial Services Group Inc. (NYSE: PNC), State Street Corporation (NYSE: STT), TCF Financial Corporation (NYSE: TCB), U.S. Bancorp (NYSE: USB), and Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC).

Admittedly, there is often a reason and some of these are not quite apples-to-apples comparisons.  Still, the current trend is that book value is now a ceiling rather than a floor.  Value investing just became very convoluted.  We screened out other issues such as brief descriptions, prices and trading ranges, market capitalization rates, and added in other color if applicable.  We also looked at Finviz for price-to-book ratios and confirmed data in press releases from each bank if available.

M&T Bank Corporation (NYSE: MTB) is the holding company for M&T Bank, offering commercial and retail banking services in New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia.  The market is capitalization is more than $10 billion with a share price of $84.67 and a 52-week range of $72.03 to $95.00. Thomson Reuters has a consensus price target of $95.21.  Finviz currently shows a price-to-book ratio of 1.16, but that has not been confirmed in the most recent quarterly report.  The common equity book value per share at the end of 2010 was $63.54.

New York Community Bancorp Inc. (NYSE: NYB) is the holding company for New York Community Bank and New York Commercial Bank, which offer banking products and services in New York, New Jersey, Ohio, Florida, and Arizona.  Its market capitalization is about $6.5 billion with a share price of $14.85 and a 52-week range of $14.40 to $19.33.  Thomson Reuters has a consensus price target of $18.50 and Finviz currently shows a price-to-book ratio of just under 1.2.  The latest earnings release showed that book value per share declined $0.02 to $12.67 per share.

PNC Financial Services Group Inc. (NYSE: PNC) is the diversified bank and financial services company with operations in Pennsylvania, Ohio, New Jersey, Michigan, Maryland, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Florida, Missouri, Virginia, Delaware, Washington, D.C., and Wisconsin.  It has some 2,446 branches.  Its market capitalization rate is $29.4 billion and the drop of 1.6% today has its shares trading at $55.90 versus a 52-week range of $49.43 to $65.19.  Thomson Reuters has a consensus price target of about $71.00 on PNC and Finviz currently shows a price-to-book ratio of 0.96.  PNC’s latest book value in its press release for earnings showed that Book value per common share was $58.01.

State Street Corporation (NYSE: STT) is a different sort of bank because it is a custodial bank per its most frequently recognized purpose.  The market cap is $21.5 billion after a 2.4% drop to $42.76 and its 52-week range is $34.37 to $50.26. Finviz currently shows a price-to-book ratio of 1.15.  Thomson Reuters has a consensus price target of almost $55.00 on State Street.

TCF Financial Corporation (NYSE: TCB) is the holding company for TCF National Bank with over 440 branch offices spread out in Illinois, Minnesota, Michigan, Colorado, Wisconsin, Arizona, Indiana, and 1 branch in South Dakota.  Its market capitalization is $2.03 billion after a 2.5% drop to $12.91 and its 52-week trading range is $12.83 to $17.37.  Thomson Reuters still has a consensus price target of $16.86 at this time and that 52-week low was hit today as well. Finviz currently shows a price-to-book ratio of just over 1.2.  Its latest book value with earnings in April was listed as $10.74 per share.

U.S. Bancorp (NYSE: USB) is the second largest of the “above book value banks” in market cap at $47 billion after a 1.4% drop to $24.39.  Thomson Reuters still has a consensus price target of about $30.38 and its 52-week trading range is $20.44 to $28.94.  Generally speaking, it is considered a higher-end bank and it operates a network of approximately 3,000 bank offices.  Finviz currently shows a price-to-book ratio of 1.56, but the latest press release only shows a book value of $14.83 per share..

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC) is a bit of a conundrum now as its market cap is still $140 billion after a 2.1% drop to $26.62.  Its 52-week trading range is $23.02 to $34.25 and the most recent earnings release has a book value of $23.18 per share.  Thomson Reuters still has a consensus price target of about $36.00 on Wells Fargo.  The bank has literally about 9,000 branches all over America.  Finviz currently shows a price-to-book ratio of 1.08.

The first thing to consider is that these book value are all going to change in the coming days and over the next week or two.  Another thing to consider is that many banks will just not trade in tandem.  State Street is not Bank of America, U.S. Bancorp is not Citi.  Still, TCB is not exactly J.P.Morgan by a long shot.  Another consideration is that some hidden values may be lurking in some of the premium banks.  Lastly, logic would dictate that if reports are coming about banks which trade above book value when peer leadership banks are under book value might lead us to make a simple reminder: perhaps that is a bottom.

All things considered, we wanted to identify those banks which screen out in the premium category.  Citi went out at about 0.8-times book value and J.P. Morgan went out at about 0.9-times book value. As a last reminder on book value, asset sales, charge-offs, write-offs, writedowns, quarterly losses, settlements, and a few dozen other items can actually help to lower stated book value per share even if these banks post earnings from normal operations.  Also, if things get worse on the debt ceiling debate with politicians in D.C. and if Europe continues its path to the bonfire you just have to assume that stated book values will only be items that bankers have to answer questions about how the numbers were derived.

Warren Buffett was quoted back in the 1990s saying, “Your goal as an investor should simply be to purchase, at a rational price, a part interest in an easily-understandable business whose earnings are virtually certain to be materially higher five, ten and twenty years from now.”  We don’t go along with the Buffett model of “buy and hold forever” any longer, but you get the idea.  Maybe he will put his money where is mouth is and show that he bought more of Wells Fargo C0. (NYSE: WFC), undeniably Mr. Buffett’s favorite bank stock.

JON C. OGG

What is interesting is that the opinion of how bad this will ultimately be can vary greatly from source to source. Our guess is that if you asked ten different members of the top brass at BofA what they thought their ultimate mortgage exposure is, you would probably get ten very different answers.

It turns out that Barron’s noted some of the banks trading close to book value, or under book value, this last weekend.  We have previously noted that both Bank of America Corporation and Citigroup, Inc. (NYSE: C) are both trading under book value but that still has not prevented a slide in the stocks.  That might not matter if that book value keeps getting eroded even as BofA remains profitable.

We have also seen how shares of Comerica Incorporated (NYSE: CMA), New York Community Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE: NYB), Northern Trust Corporation (NASDAQ: NTRS), Regions Financial Corp. (NYSE: RF), State Street Corporation (NYSE: STT), and U.S. Bancorp (NYSE: USB) have also mostly fallen since earnings season, but these are now all much closer to (or under) their implied book values reported with earnings.  Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC) and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) have also been under fire but these are now at much lower premiums to book value.

The pure-play for any bounce, if one is coming, in the banks is the Financial Select Sector SPDR (NYSE: XLF) ETF as it has the most exposure to the top banks in its tracking index.  The derivative tracking ETF is the Direxion Daily Financial Bull 3X Shares (NYSE: FAS) and it is the most leveraged and liquid of all leveraged bank ETFs with three-times the intraday moves.  Keep in mind that it does have tracking error if held over longer periods of time.

Sanford C. Bernstein’s John McDonald issued a report on the mortgage woes at Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC) this week with an outlook of $27 billion in new mortgage-related losses through the end of 2013.  How much?  The Charlotte-based bank has already booked $46 billion in mortgage losses during the financial crisis.