Investors follow the money to bank stocks

The bank stock surge continues.

Investors, high on pledges from the European Central Bank to buy more sovereign bonds and better-than-expected U.S. employment numbers, grew euphoric on what those moves could mean for banks' profits.

Bank stocks, including JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Bank of America (BAC), Goldman Sachs (GS), and Citigroup (C), shot up roughly 4% Thursday.

It was also a hot topic on StockTwits, where at least one tweeter was keen to point MORE

Don't look now. Bank stocks are rallying

The market was mostly lower on yet another sleepy August day of trading. But bank stocks were among the more notable standouts. Bank of America (BAC) and JPMorgan Chase (JPM) were two of the better performers in the Dow. Morgan Stanley (MS) and Goldman Sachs (GS) were each up more than 1.5% And Citigroup (C) had gained more than 2%.

The big banks have been riding a hot streak for the MORE

Slightly larger bonus checks expected on Wall Street

Paychecks for executives and top employees at the world's largest financial institutions are expected to get only a little bit bigger in 2012.

Compensation at the big banks will remain far below the highs of 2007, but overall, top executives could see paychecks and bonuses jump by as much as 10% in 2012.

Compensation consulting firm Johnson Associates projects that overall pay will hover between remaining flat and increasing up to 10%, MORE

George Soros buys Facebook stake; flees bank stocks

Even billionaire George Soros caught Facebook (FB) fever this spring.

The hedge fund manager purchased 341,000 shares of the social media company during the second quarter, according to SEC filings.

Hedge fund managers aren't forced to specify when during a quarter they purchased stakes in various firms. Still, it's safe to say that the investor who infamously made $1 billion shorting the British pound is under water on his Facebook bet.

Related: Warren MORE

Banks behaving badly

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Paul R. La Monica. Other than Time Warner, the parent of CNNMoney, and Abbott Laboratories, La Monica does not own positions in any individual stocks.

Happy days are here again for the stock market. If you love round numbers, then today is your day. The Dow is back above 13,000. Nasdaq has vaulted above 3,000 again. And the S&P 500 has MORE

Goldman Sachs: Stock picking isn't paying off

Don't waste your time picking stocks.

Choosing individual stocks won't give you much of an edge in this investing environment, according to a report by Goldman Sachs' research analysts released Tuesday.

So-called idiosyncratic risk -- how much an individual stock deviates from the performance of the overall stock market -- is at its lowest level since July 2011. And that makes it tough to find stocks that stand out from the crowd.

"We MORE

Goldman Sachs: Buy JPMorgan, hold off on Morgan Stanley

Goldman Sachs (GS) told investors early Tuesday to buy JPMorgan Chase (JPM), and  stop buying Morgan Stanley (MS).

JPMorgan Chase was upgraded to a so-called "conviction list buy," which, in Goldman Sachs' parlance, means run out and buy it. Conversely, Morgan Stanley was downgraded to a "hold" from a "buy."

Both banks have seen share prices fall precipitously this year, because of what Goldman's analysts say are "idiosyncratic events," including potential repercussions MORE

Goldman Sachs says sell the S&P 500

Goldman Sachs' (GS) analysts told investors to sell the S&P 500 (SPX) Thursday and boy did they ever.

The S&P 500, which was already down 1%, dropped even further as Goldman's report bounced around email inboxes.

Goldman's analysts said they could see the S&P 500 drop to 1,285, roughly 5% below its current levels. Heading into the close, the broad index was down more than 2% at 1,326.

Analysts Noah Weisberger and Aleksandar MORE

Goldman Sachs' public relations offensive

We are now live on Twitter (finally) at the GS Annual Meeting. Follow us here for updates on our work, our research, and our people.— Goldman Sachs (@GoldmanSachs) May 24, 2012

Welcome to Twitter, Goldman Sachs! The above tweet is how @GoldmanSachs announced its entrance to the Twittersphere on Thursday and by Friday morning, the account had racked up more than 10,741 followers.

Goldman Sachs (GS) timed the launch of its Twitter account MORE