Despite good news, lots of earnings jitters

The quarter that just ended was the first full quarter since the top banks took billions in taxpayer-funded TARP payments, Reuters reports. There has been lots of hope for a really good quarter. Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit and Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis made it known that their banks had really solid results in January and February. Wells Fargo's announced Thursday it will report $3 billion in first-quarter net income. And the new guidance on FAS 157 raised hopes that banks could get a collective bump up to the tune of $20 billion.

But there's also a lot of nervousness out there, mainly because of core economic conditions remain poor and concerns that the accounting change may not really do much at some banks, notably Citigroup. The stress tests are certainly another cause for worry, carrying the threat of more exchange offers that would dilute common shareholders even more. Some think the recent bank stock rally has been overcooked. Goldman Sachs starts the earnings period off on April 14. It will likely post a profit. It could be downhill from there. 

For more:
- here's the Reuters article

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