Market watchers are keeping one eye on rising interest rates and the other on how stocks are reacting to those higher levels.  The yield on the 10-year Treasury note has climbed nearly +1.6% YTD, immediately impacting mortgage interest rates but also causing stock investors to think twice about the dampening effect it may have on the future growth of the nation's economy (source: BTN Research). 
 
Since 3/09/09 (14 weeks ago today), the S&P 500 has gained +40.8% (total return), bringing the stock index back into positive territory for the year (up +6.1% YTD).  A portion of that rapid turnaround includes some US banks that are expected to repay the TARP funds they received last fall.  3 banks are anticipated to deliver $38 billion to Uncle Sam on Wednesday of this week (source: AP).  
 
Americans want to believe that the many corporations that were deemed "too big to fail" less than 9 months ago have turned a corner.  Similar to the middle-age, overweight person that has suffered a massive heart-attack, the "life-style changes" that the financial industry has undergone since finding themselves last fall in the "emergency room" are admirable and substantial, but now the hard work begins.  Once the subsidized loans and the debt guarantees from Uncle Sam go away, the success of these major US banks will show us just how much the "patient" learned during the crisis.