More Videos
- In Time for Holidays: More Gloom and Doom on Economy
- Turkey Day 101: How Well Do You Know Your Bird?
- US Home Prices Up 5th Month, 2nd Straight Quarter
- Holiday Guide to This Season's Smartphones
- Six Ways to Boost Your Income in a Big Way
- Buyers Look for Bargains at Luxury Condo Auction
- Ron Paul's Plan to Audit Fed a 'Serious Attack': Mishkin
- GM's Agreement to Sell Saab Unit Falls Apart
- Strong Banks, Weak Credit: Treasury Rethinks TARP
- Nov. 24: Unusual Volume Leaders
- NBA D-League On The Rise
- 3D's Tipping Point and Your Living Room
- On Twitter, Beware False Prophets
- My 2010 Home Price Outlook: UBS Analyst
- Why Are Options Piling into Dollar Tree?
- Novartis 'Cells' Its Flu Vaccine Technology
- Silicon Valley and Hollywood Now Fast Friends
- Markets Can Rise 5-10% in the Near-Term: Strategist
MOST SHARED
- The 'Real' Jobless Rate: 17.5% Of Workers Are Unemployed
- GM's Agreement to Sell Saab To Swedish Firm Falls Apart
- US Home Prices Up 5th Month, 2nd Straight Quarter
- Buyers Look For Bargains At Luxury Condo Auction
- FDIC Fund Falls into The Red, Bair Urges Lending
- Revised GDP Reading Puts Growth at 2.8%; Inflation Tame
- Behind The Scenes With Warren Buffett
- 10 Holiday Cocktail Recipes from Top Mixologists
- CA "More Profitable" After Saving Energy: CEO
- The L.A. Extravaganza: A Test for Auto Shows
Text Size 
Bank shares have been hammered for two days and some traders are pointing to a "slip of the tongue" Fed Chief Ben Bernanke made when answering questions at the national press club this week.
When asked if he supported former fed chief Alan Greenspan's statement that some banks will have to be nationalized he said, "Whatever actions may need to be taken at one point or another, I think there's a very strong commitment on the part of the administration to try to return banks ... or KEEP banks private or return them to private hands as quickly as possible".
Up until then everyone in the government had said nationalization is not being considered. To some investors and traders, Bernanke made it sound like nationalization is much more likely.
The CNBC clip of Bernanke's speech has been flying across trading desks via the internet, with viewers trying to figure out if Bernanke is suggesting that indeed there is some kind of backup nationalization plan.
What do you think? (Watch the video on the left)
Fears of nationalization of banks have hammered not only the stocks of the major banks, but now the preferred shares, and noticeably in the last 24 hours, the debt has also been selling off as well, for fear it will not be protected as it has been in bailouts done thus far.
The Banking index hit a new multiyear low today and the KBW Bank ETF [KBE
Loading...
()
] fell 7 percent. Citigroup [C
Loading...
()
] dropped below $3 a share, Bank of America [BAC
Loading...
()
] is below $4, Wells Fargo [WFC
Loading...
()
] was down 7 percent and JPMorgan [JPM
Loading...
()
] was down 3 percent.
Print
Email
- Remember when auto shows were major events where new models could generate buzz?
- A diet high in fat and sugar might actually be good for your portfolio.
- A new McDonald's in Manhattan is the nation's first to sport a sleek, chic interior imported from stores in London and Paris.
- Italians were outraged by a minister's comments that lunchbreaks are bad for waistlines and the economy.
- Playboy will outsource its publishing operations in a bid to become profitable again.
- For nearly three decades, these on-call experts have been dishing advice on how to – and not to – cook turkey.
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes