Bulls vs. bears battle breaks out over banks

Seems like the bulls are winning the moment. The credit crisis has really staggered bulge bracket-type bank stocks as of late. And the hits keep coming. Merrill analyst Guy Moszkowski downgraded Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers and Citigroup. Goldman Sachs lowered its third-quarter earnings estimates on three top banks. It's fair to say that there's a lot of uncertainty out there. But there is the view that most of the bad news has been built into current prices, which means there might be an opportunity at hand. The third quarter is closing, and in a few weeks, we'll get a good idea how deep the damage runs. To complicate matters, there is a huge wild card looming. Is the Fed poised to cut the federal funds rate? Any other liquidity-adding moves in the offing? Such actions, if you go by history, might goose the stocks significantly.   

For more:
- here's a MarketWatch article on the rate-cut implications 
- here's an article from CNNMoney.com about the industry's prospects