Panic?

Likely closer to time to buy than time to sell
Posting from WSJournal, although it may disappear in time

I concur - and have not been interested in fiancial stocks for quite some time.

They are a good place to be when rates are falling, but not otherwise.

Big part of the problem is that these companies have had to try to create a reason to exist, and created products that nobody understood.

Layer on borrowing from the government (FED opened the discount window after Bear Sterns) and you get government oversight.

Life goes on, banks fail, folks still buy cereal

R.O.I. - WSJ.com:

"But the reality is that the banking sector is not America. Wall Street is not America. Things may turn down for a while and times may get tougher. But life, work and the economy will go on -- even without Lehman Brothers. And this is not so new after all.

Yes the news is scary but don't panic.

The collapse of Barings in 1994, Long Term Capital Management in 1998, 9/11, and the WorldCom panic of 2002: These things happen quite often. And when you are slap bang in the middle of them, they always feel terrifying.

Someone in finance said to me quite casually the other day that this was 'much more terrifying than 9/11.' Really? Are people kidding? Right now, there is no reason to speculate on banking stocks. There never was."