Equity strategists keep plugging US banks despite poor performance

New York

WALL Street banks can't stop telling investors to buy shares in Wall Street banks. It's not been the best advice.

Financial shares have the third-worst performance among 11 S&P 500 Index groups in 2017, and are on track for the poorest year relative to the market since 2011. Yet of the 10 equity strategists surveyed by Bloomberg, nine give banks and insurers the highest recommendation and only one holds a neutral view.

That's in stark contrast to their stance on the rest of the market, where market leaders from technology to healthcare fetch no more than fo…