Trade agreements

The country's biggest bank is leaning more on fee income to offset rate pressures, expanding in selected U.S. cities and laying the groundwork for operations in China that CEO Jamie Dimon hopes will endure “for 100 years.”

But some industry watchers are tempering expectations, saying that the language is too vague to know for sure if China is serious about introducing more foreign competition.

Though details of a potential pact with China aren't clear, bankers are hoping it could convince leery customers to finally go through with delayed investments.

Many business customers are putting off expansion because they can’t find enough workers to fill available jobs.

The percentage of farm lenders losing money hit a six-year high in the third quarter, according to the FDIC.

So far farm loans are holding up well, but bankers gathered at an industry conference this week said they are growing increasingly concerned that credit quality will weaken if the U.S. and China don’t reach a deal soon.

Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina called for the panel to hold a hearing on what he termed the danger that the Federal Reserve will meddle in the 2020 presidential election.

Competition for deposits is tight, the outlook for loan demand is uncertain, and regulatory relief is slow-moving. Yet community bankers are feeling better about the economy than they have in two years, a Promontory Interfinancial Network survey found.

China's decision to stop buying U.S. soybeans and let its currency depreciate raised the prospect of further interest rate cuts. That hurt banks slightly more than the rest of the market on what was a bad day for all equities.

The president said that European Central Bank President Mario Draghi would do a better job overseeing monetary policy in the U.S. than Fed Chairman Jerome Powell.