Bank Stocks Rally; Grim 2Q for Deutsche, Santander

Receiving Wide Coverage ...

Playing the market: Bank stocks are on the rise after a tough first half of the year, rebounding on earnings results announced earlier this month. Still, prices have plenty of room to grow – the KBW bank index is down 7.3% this year. "Banks took it on the chin, but they could show signs of life," Matt Peron, head of global equity at Northern Trust told the Wall Street Journal. "They're certainly cheap."

Meanwhile, CNBC argues that "maybe — just maybe — it's time for Wall Street to catch a break" when it comes to market valuation and regulatory oversight. But let's not all hold our breath, alright?

Weak showing: Deutsche Bank's second-quarter net income plunged 98% from a year earlier, thanks to lower trading and some big fines from regulators. "Deutsche Bank executives emphasized how much harder-hit the German lender was by Europe's wobbly economy and political uncertainty, in contrast to big U.S. banks that benefited from their relative strongholds in more resilient U.S. markets," says the Wall Street Journal.

The New York Times has a more existential take: "At its heart, Deutsche Bank is still trying to find a new identity, nearly eight years after the collapse of Lehman Brothers spurred a global financial crisis."

Meanwhile, Banco Santander Wednesday morning also reported a tough quarter, with net profit falling by nearly 50% from the second quarter in 2015. Cue plenty of finger pointing at the Brexit and discussions about restructuring costs. Incidentally, both banks failed the Fed's stress tests in June. Wall Street Journal, New York Times

Wall Street Journal

Lingo: Subprime – as a term, at least – is out of vogue these days in the financial world. Now, risky borrowers are known by the euphemistic "near prime." The paper breaks it down: "What exactly is near prime? It's meant to describe borrowers who don't quite make the prime category. Put another way, they are the best of the pool of subprime borrowers, without having to mention the word subprime."

Spreading its wings: Ally Financial, the former General Motors financing unit, posted better than expected earnings on Tuesday. The company's been diversifying from auto lending with its online-only bank – and it plans to get into credit cards, mortgages and wealth management.

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