The deadline has come and gone, for regulators to approve the capital plans of the 10 banks that "failed" the stress tests. The next step is for the government to release a list of banks that have been approved to pay back their TARP funds. The media speculation has been heavy. It's not a stretch to assert that Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase are likely to get the nod. No one would be surprised if Morgan Stanley, American Express, State Street and U.S. Bancorp also get approved to repay funds.

All in all, events have played out pretty much as planned. Perhaps the only real surprise was the ease with which banks were able to raise capital. The danger when plans seem to be going well is that they get derailed by unexpected events. Second-quarter earnings will be key. You get the sense that regulators took a skeptical look at earnings as a way to build capital. We can only hope the "adverse" scenario was bad enough.  

For more:
- here's a Reuters article

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