Weak revenue and loan growth at Comerica (CMA) helped trigger a broad sell-off superregional banks like PNC Financial (PNC), Regions Financial (RF) and U.S. Bancorp (USB) while contributing to weak action among financials overall.
XComerica's average total business loans for the quarter crept up to $48.4 billion from a year ago, but slipped from the fourth quarter.
The company attributed the quarter-to-quarter dip to a "seasonal decrease in Mortgage Banker Finance and a decrease in Corporate Banking, partially offset by an increase in National Dealer Services."
"Our pipeline is strong, and we expect loan growth to return with typical seasonality in the second quarter," CEO Ralph W. Babb said in a statement.
Comerica's first-quarter earnings per share jumped 51% to $1.54, beating estimates for $1.49. Revenue rose 7% to $793 million, missing estimates for $812 million.
Comerica Leads Bank Sell-Off
Shares tumbled 3.5% to finish at 92.74 on the stock market today, falling toward the bottom of its flat base. Among other superregionals PNC Financial, which reported weak revenue last week, fell 2.1%, testing its 200-day line. U.S. Bancorp lost 0.8%, and SVB Financial (SIVB) dipped 0.8%.
The superregional bank group was among the very worst performers out of the 197 groups that IBD tracks.
Financials generally lagged, with Goldman Sachs (GS) the latest banking giant to reverse lower on earnings. Goldman Sachs dropped 1.6%.
The yield curve between short- and long-term bonds narrowed Tuesday, also squeezing bank profitability.
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