There was the euro-zone sovereign debt crisis. Poor job numbers. And pivotal developments in Senate action on financial reform.
On Thursday, bank stocks were among the hardest hit in a market decline that brought the major indexes into correction territory. The KBW Bank Index retreated 5.1%. The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 3.6%, the Standard & Poor's 500 index 3.9% and the Nasdaq 4.1%.
Regional banking companies were hit the hardest, with the Senate successfully voting to end debate on the mammoth financial bill in the afternoon.
The legislation's tightening of consumer regulation is seen by many as a major threat to the profitability of banks concentrated in that sector.
In a note to clients, Richard Bove, an analyst at Rochdale Securities, suggested that the legislation's impact could slash bank profit margins by as much as 25%, though he remains bullish on the sector overall and believes some of that damage is already priced into banking stocks.
Other analysts cited the banking legislation as the primary cause of the overall decline.
"My gut tells me that if we didn't have this [regulatory] bill at this point, the market would be in a lot better shape even with problems in the euro zone," Raymond James analyst Anthony Polini told Dow Jones.
Every stock in the KBW index fell. Among the biggest banks, Bank of America Corp. slumped 6.2%, Citigroup Inc. 4.7%, Wells Fargo & Co. 4.6% and JPMorgan Chase & Co. 3.9%.
The biggest declines, however, came at regional institutions. Marshall & Ilsley Co. tumbled 8%, Regions Financial Corp. 7.3% and Comerica Inc. 7.2%. Zions Bancorp. fell 6.7%, adding to a cumulative decline of 16.6% for the week so far.
