With a few exceptions, the questions for the bank CEOs were relatively tame, and the CEOs went out of their way to avoid saying anything controversial.
Most bank stocks were up 3 to 5 percent with little volatility.
Mid-day weakness was due largely to a swoon in commodity stocks, as oil closed down nearly 4 percent on high inventory levels and the dollar rallied. Energy stocks dropped, but so did other commodity stocks like steel, metals, and iron ore companies, but most staged a partial recovery in the last hour.
It's the stimulus plan that is relevant here; there has been noise all day that a deal reconciling the House and Senate versions will be reached some time this week. Surprisingly, the home buying credit--initially discussed at $15,000--has apparently been cut back significantly.
While bank CEOs were being pummeled by the House of Representatives for providing loans to Pfizer to buy Wyeth , MMM said it would continuing to purchase companies, but is not counting on banks to finance them.
CFO Patrick Campbell said getting loans from banks was difficult, so they will use stock and cash to pay for purchases. "We're going after a number of competitors who are a little weaker," he told Dow Jones Newswires.
- Congress Reaches Accord On $789 Billion Stimulus
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