Bank stress exams may test investor patience.
On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve is scheduled to report how 33 financial institutions fared in a simulated bad economic downturn. Countercyclical factors included this year could mean that even those banks that ace the tests will have to hang on to additional profit rather than return more money to shareholders.
The Federal Reserve has emphasized the improving resilience of the financial sector. In the first round of resultsreleased last week, all banks proved tough enough from a capital perspective to keep lending despite a situation in which gross domestic product fell 7.5 percent.
