Bank Stocks Weak On Worries, Gold Higher (BAC, XLF, GLD)

Bank stocks are lower today and some safe haven plays like Gold are moving higher on concerns that we're not out of the woods yet on the credit crisis.

Adding to the concerns today in bankland are reports that the Obama administration is considering converting their preferred shares into common shares to boost the banks capital. These reports come as Bank of America's (NYSE: BAC) reported better than expected Q1 earnings and CEO Ken Lewis contented "we absolutely don't need additional capital." In addition, traders continue to wait and speculate about the bank stress test results, with some questionable rumors going around today that the bank stress test results leaked out and are awful. In a recent article, StreetInsider.com suggested that if the Treasury was smart they would release the results quickly and simultaneously to avoid rumor-mongering.

Bank Stocks:

• Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) -16%
  
• Citigroup (NYSE: C) -15%
  
• Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC) -8%
  
• JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) -4%
  
• Financial Select Sector SPDR (NYSE: XLF) -6%
  

Gold:

• Gold spot is up 1.5% to $882


• ETF SPDR Gold Shares (NYSE: GLD) +1.7%
  
• Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (NYSE: GDX) is up 3.7%

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