Risk aversion has re-entered the investment equation with risky assets such as equities and commodities bearing the brunt of the selling orders, while gold bullion, government bonds, the US dollar and the yen are attracting safe-haven money.

The global stock market pullback seems to be gathering momentum with three markets on my radar screen now trading below their 50-day moving averages, indicating a reversal of the secondary trend. These markets are China, Hong Kong and Chile, with most others uncomfortably close to this intermediate support level (see table below). I am of the opinion that more markets will fall below the 50-day lines and that we will at least see some degree of reversion to the key 200-day moving averages (often used to distinguish between primary bull and bear markets). The table provides the key levels, as well as the declines since the recent highs.

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div style=”text-align: justify;”span style=”font-weight: bold;”Lincoln National (NYSE:LNC)/span is getting positive vibes from several tier-1 firms this morning:br /br /span style=”font-weight: bold;”- CSFB /spanis upgrading their rating to Outperform from Neutral and moving their price tgt to $24 (prev. $21).br /br /The upgrade comes following LNC’s capital raise and the announced plans to issue preferred stock to the US Treasury. While the planned $950 million of CPP leaves a clear overhang on the shares, given the likelihood of a future equity raise to repay the CPP, the firm thinks the stock is trading at too large of a discount relative to the risk of future dilution and other potential franchise risks associated with having the government as a key stakeholder.br /br /CSFB’s main points of distinction vs. the other expected CPP recipient, HIG, are that: 1. LNC’s balance sheet problems are more modest in size for both credit and equity sensitivity, …

Even after their huge rally from the March lows, bank stocks represent the “single-greatest opportunity” from the long side, according to Doug Kass, president of Seabreeze Partners.

Bigger is better within the sector: shares of some so-called TARP banks could “double or triple in the next three-to-four years,” Kass predicts, making a notable exception of Citigroup. [...]