Banks, Biotech & Digital Money

Check out the accompanying pdf and chart collection. Executive Summary: Bank stocks have tanked this ytd, and analysts are pessimistic on earnings prospects. Valuations are so depressed that both the S&P 500 Regional Banks and S&P 500 Diversified Banks industry indexes sport forward P/Es below 10. But Jackie sees signs that Q3 earnings may not be as bad as feared, including a recent pickup in capital markets activity and adequate protections against slowly rising loan losses. … Also underperforming this year has been the S&P 500 Biotech industry. But brisk M&A activity may underpin these stocks. … And: China has rolled out a digital currency; the government has been incenting its uptake in numerous ways.