The trailing price/earnings ratio for the Datastream World Banks index is now 12.4 times. It has only been lower twice before: at the nadir of the last stock market crash at the end of 2002 and momentarily during the Russia/LTCM crisis of 1998. Some investment bank heads are insisting that todayâs credit woes will only have a limited effect on earnings. So far, equity investors seem to be sceptical; after all, five months after LTCM blew up global bank earnings fell 20 per cent.
I like banks...especially the ones that are not subprime related
I like banks...especially the ones that are not subprime related