Fifth Third Flies: Financial Winner

Fifth Third Bancorp (FITB) was the big winner on a strong Thursday for most U.S. financials, with shares rising over 9% to close at $11.63.

The Cincinnati lender beat third-quarter earnings estimates with a profit of 40 cents a share, which was a 14% improvement over the second quarter.

The broad indexes were mixed, as investors continued to fret, with a growing perception that European leaders were having difficulty settling on a plan to expand the eurozone rescue fund while violent protests took place in Greece.

The KBW Bank Index (I:BKX) rose 2% to close at 38.31, with all but four of the 24 index components showing gains.

Shares of KeyCorp (KEY) jumped 7% after the Cleveland lender announced third-quarter earnings of 22 cents a share, beating the consensus estimate among analysts polled by Thomson Reuters by a penny.

Huntington Bancshares (HBAN) was Thursday's sector loser, with shares sliding 7% to close at $4.88, after the company announced third-quarter EPS of 16 cents, which met the consensus estimate of analysts polled by Thomson Reuters.

FBR Capital Markets analyst Paul Miller pointed out that while companies trading far below book value, such as Bank of America (BAC) and KeyCorp just needed to "show up" during earnings seasons to spur a positive reaction from earnings, just meeting earnings estimates, while seeing some revenue pressures, was not enough to propel Huntington's shares, which were trading near book value.

KeyCorp traded for 75% of its reported Sept. 30 tangible book value of $9.10 a share, while Huntington closed at 94% of its reported Sept. 30 tangible book value of $5.17 a share.

Bank of America was up 1% to close at $6.47.

Another bank disappointing investors on Thursday! was Fir st Niagara Financial Group (FNFG), which reported third-quarter EPS of 19 cents, missing analysts' consensus by seven cents, while reporting strong loan growth. The shares pulled back 5% to close at $9.09.

Large U.S. banks seeing shares rise 3% on Thursday included Bank of New York Mellon (BK), which closed at $20.21; JPMorgan Chase (JPM), at $33.13; PNC Financial Services (PNC), at $53.10; State Street (STT), at $38.18; and U.S. Bancorp (USB), closing at $24.92.