Bank stocks retreat on Fed stress-test disclosure

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch)
U.S. bank stocks retreated on Monday on reports that large banks are clashing with the Federal Reserve over the magnitude of disclosure from a recent stress test
A lobbying group owned by units of major banks said in a letter this month to the Fed that releasing additional information to the public from the test may have “negative consequences” on lenders and U.S. financial markets, The Wall Street Journal reported
However, government officials are not backing down from a plan to publish a detailed scenario of how the biggest banks would perform in an economic downturn lasting two years, the Journal said
Nineteen U.S. banks in January had submitted data in response to regulators’ questions on how they would fare in a severe downturn but are pressuring the central bank to limit the scope of disclosure
Morgan Stanley closed down 3.1%, Goldman Sachs Group  fell 1.1%, Wells Fargo & Co. lost 1% and Citigroup Inc.  C +0.09% shed 1.2%.
Out of the four financial components in the Dow Jones Industrial Average , Bank of America Corp.   fell 2%, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.  slid 0.6% and American Express Co. edged down less than 0.1%
Travelers  bucked the trend and added 0.8%
The Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF , which tracks the financial components in the S&P 500 Index , shed 0.4%