Top Bank Stocks To Buy For 2017

The U.S. Dollar (NYSEARCA:UUP) Index has finally given us a powerful breakout from its contracting range. The dollar index ended the week with gains of more than 1.6 percent after the latest Fed minutes revealed that "a rate hike could be expected relatively soon." The Fed officials, who next meet on November 1-2, before the U.S. election on November 8, are contemplating raising the interest rate in December.

But with the greenback already strengthening, will the central bank really go for a hike? Let us see how the U.S. dollar index is expected to react going forward, and what the implications will be for stocks, crude oil and precious metals such as silver.

What Is The U.S. Dollar Index, and Why Does It Matter?

The U.S. Dollar Index measures the value of each U.S. dollar against six major currencies belonging to U.S.'s leading trading nations. This basket of currencies includes (according to their weights in their index):

Euro (EUR) - 57.6% Japanese yen (JPY) - 13.6% Pound sterling (GBP) - 11.9% Canadian dollar (CAD) - 9.1% Swedish krona (SEK) - 4.2% Swiss franc (CHF) - 3.6%

Now, it is important to understand this very clearly. A rising dollar index does not necessarily mean the dollar is strengthening; it could simply also mean that other currencies are weakening, which is lifting the index. Currencies often weaken when the central banks of those countries embark on aggressive monetary easing, directly or indirectly. Lowering interest rates is an indirect way of monetary easing, while helicopter money is a perfect example of direct capital infusion.

Top Bank Stocks To Buy For 2017: Vanguard Short-Term Corporate Bond ETF(VCSH)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Steven Goldberg]

  You��ll never grow rich owning Vanguard Short-Term Corporate Bond ETF (VCSH), but you won��t go broke, either. I especially love two numbers about this fund: its annual expense ratio of just 0.10% and its average duration of 2.8 years (duration is a measure of interest-rate sensitivity; a duration of 2.8 years suggests that the fund��s price would drop by 2.8% if interest rates rose by one percentage point). The exchange-traded fund invests in short-term, high-quality corporate and government bonds. It yields just 1.9%, but the modest payout is a fair trade-off for the low risk.

Top Bank Stocks To Buy For 2017: Anadarko Petroleum Corporation(APC)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  If you’re an oil explorer, you’re probably trying to avoid offshore right now. It’s expensive to reach, and, with oil still trading below $50, difficult to make profitable. That’s one reason companies have been touting big discoveries and buys onshore–see Apache’s (APA) big announcement from last week for one example. Yet here’s Anadarko Petroleum (APC) spending $2 billion to buy Freeport-McMoRan’s (FCX) Gulf of Mexico assets. What gives? UBS analyst William Featherston and team explain:

• [By Wayne Duggan]

  Bernstein maintains Outperform ratings on the following oil stocks:

  Apache Corporation (NYSE: APA) Anadarko Petroleum Corporation (NYSE: APC) Cobalt International Energy, Inc. (NYSE: CIE) Cabot Oil & Gas Corporation (NYSE: COG) ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) Devon Energy Corp (NYSE: DVN) EOG Resources Inc (NYSE: EOG) Range Resources Corp. (NYSE: RRC) Southwestern Energy Company (NYSE: SWN)

  GMP analyst Bob Bakanauskas went long E&Ps back on February 3. He predicts that the oil market will transition from oversupply to undersupply in 2017. From that point forward, the world will once again require shale production growth.

• [By Craig Jones]

  Guy Adami would buy Anadarko Petroleum Corporation (NYSE: APC), which is going to report earnings on October 31. He wants to be long ahead of the earnings report, because he thinks that it could trade above $70.

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  Beta Should Lead At The Start of A Rally: Best ideas in the first leg up: Marathon Oil, Devon Energy (DVN), Anadarko Petroleum (APC), and Continental Resources (CLR). If OPEC announces a cut, whether moderate or deep, we expect that in the initial move up, moderate value beta names, like Marathon Oil, Devon Energy, Anadarko Petroleum, and�Continental Resources will lead.For a $5 increase in oil prices, we estimate 2017 cash flow per share would increase 12-18% for these stocks vs. the remainder of the group at 12%. Of these four, short interest is modest for all except�Continental Resources at 25%, among the highest in our universe. Outperformance of these names should be driven by investors adding to long positions, not short covering.

• [By Matt Egan]

  In addition to Exxon, S&P also warned it could downgrade the credit ratings of ConocoPhillips (COP) and Anadarko Petroleum (APC).

Top Bank Stocks To Buy For 2017: Net 1 UEPS Technologies, Inc.(UEPS)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Javier Hasse]

  Friday’s after-hours trading session did not see many stocks on the move. Shares of Net 1 UEPS Technologies Inc (NASDAQ: UEPS) were down almost 2.5 percent in what seemed like a correction of the 1.83 percent surge seen during the day.

Top Bank Stocks To Buy For 2017: Synacor, Inc.(SYNC)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Monica Gerson]

  Synacor Inc (NASDAQ: SYNC) is projected to post a quarterly loss at $0.03 per share on revenue of $30.00 million.

  VAALCO Energy, Inc. (NYSE: EGY) is expected to post a quarterly loss at $0.11 per share on revenue of $18.59 million.

Top Bank Stocks To Buy For 2017: Conn's, Inc.(CONN)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Monica Gerson]

  
  Benzinga's newsdesk monitors options activity to notice unusual patterns. These large volume (and often out of the money) trades were initially published intraday in Benzinga Professional . These trades were placed during Monday’s regular session.

  Pier 1 Imports Inc (NYSE: PIR) Dec16 5.0 Puts Sweep: 1191 @ ASK $0.80: 1354 traded vs 102 OI: $5.32 Ref Alcoa Inc (NYSE: AA) Jul16 9.5 Puts Sweep: 1494 @ ASK $0.13: 14k traded vs 6682 OI: $10.09 Ref Sarepta Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ: SRPT) Jul16 10.0 Puts: 3536 @ ASK $0.50: 5506 traded vs 54k OI: Earnings 8/4 $22.50 Ref Tableau Software Inc (NYSE: DATA) Jul16 47.5 Puts Sweep: 837 @ ASK $0.30: 995 traded vs 37 OI: Earnings 8/3 $50.60 Ref Yandex NV (NASDAQ: YNDX) Aug16 18.0 Puts Sweep: 532 @ ASK $0.30: 2143 traded vs 78 OI: Earnings 7/28 Before Open $22.02 Ref Wolverine World Wide, Inc. (NYSE: WWW) Aug16 22.5 Puts: 719 @ ASK $1.35: 1032 traded vs 0 OI: Earnings 7/19 $22.22 Ref Conn's Inc (NASDAQ: CONN) Jan17 5.0 Puts Sweep: 605 @ ASK $0.85: 1355 traded vs 3132 OI: $7.16 Ref

  Posted-In: Huge Put PurchasesNews Options Markets

• [By Lisa Levin]

  Conn's Inc (NASDAQ: CONN) shares dropped 24 percent to $8.95 as the company reported downbeat quarterly results. Conn's posted a Q1 loss of $0.31 per share on revenue of $389.1 million.

• [By Lisa Levin]

  Electronics Stores: This industry moved up 1.16% by 10:15 am. The top performer in this industry was Conns (NASDAQ: CONN), which gained 1.3%. Conns' PEG ratio is 0.87.

• [By Lisa Levin]

  Conn's Inc (NASDAQ: CONN) shares dropped 23 percent to $9.03 as the company reported downbeat quarterly results. Conn's posted a Q1 loss of $0.31 per share on revenue of $389.1 million.

• [By Chris Lange]

  Conn’s Inc. (NASDAQ: CONN) will share its latest quarterly earnings on Thursday. The consensus estimates call for a net loss of $0.07 per share and $413.12 million in revenue. Shares were at $6.84 on Friday��s close, in a 52-week range of $6.54 to $34.60. The consensus price target is $13.17.

Top Bank Stocks To Buy For 2017: Cooper Tire & Rubber Company(CTB)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Chad Fraser]

  Goodyear shares have risen sharply so far in 2013, including significant jumps in the wake of the latest earnings report and on news of rival Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. (NYSE: CTB) being taken over by India’s Apollo Tyres.