European banks are looking increasingly attractive, Dennis Gartman, editor of The Gartman Letter, said Monday on CNBC.
On "Fast Money," Gartman looked at the strong performance of the recent Spanish bond auction.
"They had a great auction last week, six-month and three-month bills in Spain went very, very well," he said. "The yield curve got more positively sloped, probably going to get more positively sloped."
Gartman said he liked what was going on in Italy and the rest of the G-7 countries.
"As I like to say, 'Positive slopes to yield curves make geniuses out of otherwise banking idiots.' It's a lovely thing to be able to borrow short and lend long, and they're being able to do that now," he added.
Gartman said he no longer thinks Europe is going to "hell in a handbasket."
Although financial stocks in Europe such as Deutsche Bank, Bilbao Vizcaya, Credit Suisse and Banco Santander posted losses for the day, Gartman said that he wouldn't bet against them for the longer-term.
"Because things are going to be better two years from now, three years from now, five years from now than they are now," he said. "Everybody wants to make the bet that the world is coming to an end. Those who have made that bet for the last 150, 200, 500, 800 years have made a bad bet."
Adding a caveat, Gartman added, "Can things go pear-shaped in the course of the next two or three months? Of course. But we thought they were going to go pear-shaped two years ago, and they haven't done that yet."
Gartman admitted that he wasn't a buyer, however.
"I would rather be a buyer of their banks than a seller of their banks, no ifs, ands or buts," he said. "Am I buying them? No, but if you made me do something, that's what I would do."
Trader disclosure: On Feb. 4, 2013, the following stocks and commodities mentioned or intended to be mentioned on CNBC's "Fast Money" were owned by the "Fast Money" traders: Pete Najarian is long AAPL; Pete Najarian is long JPM CALLS; Pete Najarian is long YHOO CALLS; Pete Najarian is long RIMM CALL SPREAD; Pete Najarian is long SBUX; Pete Najarian is long FB; Pete Najarian is long MSFT; Pete Najarian is long DELL; Pete Najarian is long NFLX CALL SPREAD; Karen Finerman is long AAPL; Karen Finerman is long AAPL PUTS; Karen Finerman is long BAC; Karen Finerman is long JPM; Karen Finerman is long WMT; Karen Finerman is long TGT; Karen Finerman is long MSFT; Karen Finerman is long GOOG; Karen Finerman is long M; Karen Finerman is long FNP; Karen Finerman is long RLGY; Karen Finerman is long MHP; Karen Finerman is long MHP CALLS; Karen Finerman is short IWM; Karen Finerman is short RTY; Karen Finerman is short SPY; Steve Grasso is long AAPL; Steve Grasso is long AMZN; Steve Grasso is long ASTM; Steve Grasso is long BA; Steve Grasso is long GOOG; Steve Grasso is long GDX; Steve Grasso is long LF; Steve Grasso is long LNG; Steve Grasso is long MHY; Steve Grasso is long P; Steve Grasso is long PXD; Steve Grasso is long NVIV; Steve Grasso is long PFE; Steve Grasso is long S.
