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More Bank Failures Likely Before Financials Recover
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Special to CNBC.com
Careful Investing
As for individual stock plays in such an uncertain market, Todd Salamone of Shaeffer's Investment Research advises caution, and even then sticking with the tried and true--banks that have survived earnings season, taken their subprime writedowns, and have balance sheets that appear strong enough to withstand more turmoil.
"From an investment perspective, if you're going to dip your toe in the financial area, dip your toe in companies that have already come out and reported earnings that came in above expectations," he says.
"If we are not near the end of the cycle, those are the stocks that are going to provide the best opportunities," he adds. "We're not saying back up the truck necessarily, because there's still a lot of uncertainty out there."
Salamone cited Wells Fargo [WFC
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] and Charles Schwab [SCHW
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] as two companies in the sector that he sees as resilient during the credit crunch and whose earnings fit the description as fit going forward.
As an ETF hedge, Salamone said the Financial Select Sector SPDR [XLF
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], which is diversified across a range of financial, insurance and real estate companies, provides cover against individual shares taking unexpected plunges.
A Warning For Depositors
Stock market players aren't the only ones who have to worry about investment risk with banks. Depositors, too, have exposure, particularly on funds that exceed the $100,000 limit covered by the FDIC.
What some may not know is that even though they may think they are under the insured limit, if they have money in investment banks they could have additional exposure if the investment banks have money placed in Insured Cash Accounts, or ICAs.
If the ICAs are at banks where depositors already have money, anything over $100,000 is not covered.
"That's something people doesn't understand," Boyle says.
She advises depositors to check their investment banks to see where their ICA money has been deposited.
"I don't care how big your bank is or how safe you think you are," Boyle says. "There's lots of rumors. We hear them everyday, and they're going to continue."
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Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes
