With this issue, American Banker introduces Market Monitor, a greatly expanded weekly report on financial services stocks.
At the start of each week, Market Monitor will deliver detailed listings and incisive analyses of the stocks of nearly 700 companies - many more than are contained in our daily stock section.
These companies include money-center, regional, and community banks, thrifts, specialty finance companies, brokerages, investment advisers, and insurers - a diverse lineup of key players in the converging financial services sectors.
The eight-page Market Monitor will consist of:
*A rundown on the stocks of the 225 largest commercial banks, tracking the week's price and volume trends, with a spotlight on the biggest gains, losses, and changes. (See page 26 in this issue.)
*A listing of the stocks of 145 nonbank financial services companies. Included are the two dozen credit card, mortgage, and finance companies already tracked in the daily stock tables. The rest - 96 insurers, 15 brokerages, and 10 investment advisory firms - are brand new to our rankings. (See page 27.)
*Details on 150 thrifts - versus the 25 tracked in our daily stock tables - including a region-by-region breakdown. (See page 28.)
*A new stock listing covering the nation's 150 largest community banks, complementing our strong editorial focus on banks with assets of $3 billion or less. (See page 29.)
*A new report from First Call Corp. that tracks the intensity of analysts' purchase recommendations on major financial services industry stocks. (See page 30.)
Along with the expanded statistical listings, American Banker plans to enhance its market coverage with in-depth analysis of trends affecting the entire financial services market.
We believe this extensive, timely, carefully assembled information will prove exceptionally useful to our readers, and we hope you will let us know what you think.
