The 5 Financials Stories You Don't Want to Miss

It's been quite a week. Between the election, renewed concerns over the fiscal cliff, cleanup in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, and more ugliness in Europe's financial picture, investors have had plenty to chew on.

With so much to read, it can be tough to keep up. So I've dug through the Fool's financial-sector coverage over the past week to highlight five stories that you don't want to overlook.

Obama Wins, Financials Dive
In the aftermath of the U.S. presidential election, banks and financial companies including Bank of America (NYS: BAC) , Citigroup (NYS: C) , Goldman Sachs (NYS: GS) , and Morgan Stanley (NYS: MS) all went south in a hurry. Sure, it wasn't just the election -- continued turmoil in Europe also got investors' goat. But there is definitely some concern that President Obama is not exactly a shining defender of banks.

In this article, I took a look at that assumption and considered whether investors should use it to "play" the outcome of the election.

For further reading: Amanda Alix expounded on the idea that Obama may not have been the biggest election-day bummer for banks.

I'm Putting More Real Money on AIGEarly in the week, I dug into the recent earnings announcement from AIG (NYS: AIG) and noted that while its property and casualty insurance arm seems to be making some progress, it still has considerable room for improvement in its underwriting.

Overall though, fellow Fool Jim Royal liked what he saw in AIG's quarterly release. In the article above, he explains why that led him to buy more AIG for his real-money portfolio.

JPMorgan Cleans Up Two Big HeadachesJPMorgan Chase's (NYS: JPM) infamous London Whale made quite a splash earlier this year. But now it appears to be quietly swimming off into the sunset. John Grgurich noted that with the debacle now firmly in the rear view, the big bank once again has the green light to resume buying back its own stock. And if that's not thrilling enough, it also looks like Jamie Dimon and crew have paved the way for a settlement of some ugly legal troubles.

2 Big Reasons These Stocks Will Soar Even HigherHurricane Sandy has left a devastating toll in its path, and even though a lot of attention was diverted by the election this week, a major section of the Northeastern coast is still a disaster -- especially in New Jersey and New York. Although our first concern at the Fool is that the lives of those affected get put back together, we also recognize that there are some businesses that could see a tailwind from the rebuilding efforts. Fool Amanda Alix considers two of them in this article.

5 Fantastic Quotes from a Brilliant InvestorPrem Watsa may not be the first name that pops into your mind when you think of great investors, but he's one of the sharpest market mavens out there today. Though Watsa doesn't make it a regular practice of being in front of cameras or talking reporters, Fool Michael Lewis has dug up some great quotes from the Fairfax Financial (NASDAQOTH: FRFHF) CEO and value investor extraordinaire.

The stock everyone's talking about
It doesn't seem to matter what day, week, or month it is -- investors want to know more about Bank of America. There's little surprise there since the much-maligned big bank is trading at an eye-catching valuation. To learn more about the most-talked-about bank out there, check out our in-depth company report on Bank of America. The report details Bank of America's prospects, including three reasons to buy and three reasons to sell. Just click here to get access.

The article The 5 Financials Stories You Don't Want to Miss originally appeared on Fool.com.

Fool contributor Matt Koppenheffer owns shares of Bank of America and Morgan Stanley. The Motley Fool owns shares of American International Group, Bank of America, Citigroup, and JPMorgan Chase. and has the following options: long JAN 2014 $25.00 calls on American International Group. Motley Fool newsletter services recommend American International Group and Goldman Sachs. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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