Serious Money: 10 finance stocks as the market bounces

Filed under: Major movement, Rants and raves, Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A), Market matters, Citigroup Inc. (C), Money and Finance Today, Merrill Lynch (MER), Serious Money, DJIA, Lehman Br Holdings (LEH), Stocks to Buy, MBIA Inc (MBI)

Today the Dow Jones Industrial Average bounced back from yesterday's poor showing. It ended the trading day at 11,397.56, that's plus 266.48 (+2.39%) returning more than it had lost only 24 hours ago.

There are plenty of prognosticators explaining why this happened and so I am not going to join the crowd this afternoon with my own version. Leave it to say we are in a period of uncertainty where investors and traders alike are a bit jumpy. We did have a 5.8 magnitude earthquake today in Southern California, only fitting for this type of market.

In the meantime I have been wondering how to take advantage of the lousy situation in the financial sector of the market. How can I maximize my gains and control risk at the same time? I guess we are all trying to do this, but few will appreciate my contrarian, 'no guts no glory' approach.

I think you have to be buying banks and investment companies and I have decided that ten is the right number. Sir John Templeton (RIP) is the catalyst for this notion. I am already on record (Serious Money: More signs the market has bottomed) that this is the time to be selectively buying and 'my pal Warren' said as much at the Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.A) annual meeting when he suggested the financials have seen the worst of the storm.