Small cap community / regional banks did well last week.  As I was reviewing the charts, I saw a consistent and broad based improvement in this sector which has performed poorly since the beginning of the year.  Initially, I thought that the weak jobs report on Friday and associated decline in treasury yields might have been the biggest impetus for the stock improvement.  That was not the case… unless it was just a matter of investors guessing correctly all week long and putting a bid in this group.  When I looked at the daily charts, I saw strength that was forming from Monday forward.  So what does all this mean?  It means that I am less pessimistic about small financial stocks.  It might be a reflection of rates or credit quality not being as bad as expected or a commentary on the mortgage mess not being as bad, but whatever the reason, the action in this sector stood out.