What We're Reading

Dick Evans, chairman and CEO of San Antonio based Cullen Front Bank (CFR) made the rounds in December chatting with CNBC in an effort to reassure investors that the low price crude oil was only temporary and would not translate into a revisiting of the bloodbath of the 1980's, however their chart says that investors aren't drinking the koolaid.  (chart right - click to enlarge)

The same investor fear can be seen in southern lender BOK Financial which operates in Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Northwest Arkansas, Colorado, Arizona, and Kansas/Missouri. (chart below - click to enlarge)

I believe that barring an OPEC cut in production or some outside supply disruption, crude will NOT recover in 2015 as explained in this post.   Is this what these bank charts are hinting at?

The next question is if these banks begin to see defaults in oil and gas names, just how many dominos lie behind in the high-yield bond financial trail.  As Becky Quick points out, hedging only lasts for so long so i

I have to throw a flag in from the sidelines calling foul on the learned men on CNBCs Fast Money table Friday (video below) as traders remain bullish on the big screen.  In fact, they do not believe crude's fall will impact our rally.  Really?  Josh Brown stated there was no correlation b/w the price of oil and the S&P500 and did their level best to downplay the selling in crude oil.  Alright, overlay a comparison chart (left) and you won't see black gold having an enormous impact on the market with a few exceptions BUT, the energy complex represents an average of 6.9% of U.S. GDP. 

If it's a bear market, this changes the scenery.  Come on Josh; there's much more that you're not saying and we know it.  Stay with me here.  So typically if we saw a ten percent correction in crude, another sector in the S&P would merely step up to the plate and help lead such as tech or financials.

This time, however, we see regional banks such a Cullen-Frost (who lend to oil names down here in Texas fo