Bank stocks fell Tuesday as investors took their profits from Monday's rally.
The KBW Bank Index fell 1.42%, after rising 3.55% the day before on news that the G-20 leaders would continue to stimulate their economies. Meanwhile, the broader markets had a choppy day; the Dow Jones Industrial average closed up 0.2%, but the Standard & Poor's 500 index lost 0.01%.
"There was a little bit of irrational exuberance yesterday," said Theodore Kovaleff, an analyst at Horwitz & Associates. "Part of the problem is that people are gun-shy now, so they're thinking that if you've got to profit, you ought to take some of it now instead of seeing it possibly erode."
Decliners included JPMorgan Chase & Co., off 0.4%; Wells Fargo & Co., 1%; PNC Financial Services Group Inc., 0.6%; U.S. Bancorp, 0.7%, and Citigroup Inc., 1 cent a share, to $4.18.
Among the regional banking companies, SunTrust Banks Inc. fell 3.3%; BB&T Corp., 0.6%; Capital One Financial Corp., 0.2%; KeyCorp., 2.6%; Comerica Inc., 1.2%; Fifth Third Bancorp, 3.2%, and Regions Financial Corp., 14 cents, to $4.82 a share.
Bank of America Corp. rose 1.7%, after Chief Executive Kenneth Lewis told an investor conference that the company's integration of Merrill Lynch was ahead of schedule and would yield more in cost savings than expected.
