Who was the big winner, and who was the big loser?
Alex Dumortier, Fool writer: If this week’s stock performance of the banks under scrutiny is anything to go by, there aren’t any losers — only winners. Of course, short-term price action doesn’t necessarily reflect economic reality. Nevertheless, Citigroup is a big winner if the Financial Times’ report that the troubled bank succeeded in convincing the government to lower its estimated capital shortfall from $30 billion-plus to just $5.5 billion is accurate. At the other end of the scale, Bank of America’s $33.9 billion shortfall seems to have exceeded expectations. My concern is that investors and authorities will be lulled into thinking the results of this test are somehow final and definitive. If conditions deteriorate beyond expectations, that illusion would be extremely pernicious, and we — investors, consumers, business owners — would all end up losers. Morgan Housel, Fool writer: The biggest winner could be Bank of New York Mellon, which doesn’t have to raise any capital. Its
