MW: European banks raised to overweight at Citigroup
By Polya Lesova
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- Citigroup upgraded European banking stocks to overweight on Friday, saying that a lot of bad news is priced into the sector and the probability of a material selloff from current levels is low. Banks have been the worst performers in Europe in the last three months, and are close to 2010 price lows, according to Citigroup. The broker's top picks in the sector are Standard Chartered PLC UK:STAN +0.91% , Credit Suisse Group AG CS +2.01% CH:CSGN +0.54% , BNP Paribas FR:BNP +2.14% , DnB Nor ASA NO:DNBNOR +0.93% and HSBC Holdings PLC UK:HSBA +0.88% . "With elevated levels of sovereign risk, stress test pains, regulatory/capital concerns and hefty underperformance, we see the near-term risk-reward for European banks as improved now compared to three months ago," the broker said in a note.
