Last week, JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) led off the coming parade of earnings from the big banks when it reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter and full-year earnings, though its revenue fell short of estimates.

Plenty more earnings from the financial sector are due out this week. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters anticipate fourth-quarter earnings growth from American Express Co. (AXP), Bank of New York Mellon Corp. (BK), Hudson City Bancorp Inc. (HCBK), SLM Corp. (SLM) and US Bancorp (USB).

The Bank Of New York Mellon's (BK) stock has meandered since the April 6, 2009 buy call at a price of $28.16. With most other stocks, that would be a concern, but given the bank's track record, I'm obviously reiterating my buy rating.

Founded by Alexander Hamilton, The Bank of New York provides services that enable institutions and individuals to move and manage their financial assets in more than 100 markets globally. The core of BK's business, custodial services, is doing just fine, with more than $16 trillion in assets under custody.

The extended Buy opportunity continues at Bank of New York Mellon (NYSE: BK), and I'm Reiterating my Buy rating for the company's shares, first recommended on April 6, 2009 at a price of $28.16.

Founded by Alexander Hamilton, The Bank of New York provides services that enable institutions and individuals to move and manage their financial assets in more than 100 markets globally. The core of BK's business -- custodial services -- is doing just fine, with $16 trillion in assets under custody.

Here are some highlights from last week's earnings coverage from BloggingStocks:

• AirTran Holdings Inc. (NYSE: AAI) reported its third consecutive quarterly profit and will increase capacity.
• Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) shares soared after it reported very strong Q3 numbers.
• Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) reported stellar Q4 results, driven by the popularity of Macs and iPhones.
• BlackRock Inc. (NYSE: BLK) Q3 earnings soared, due in part to a tax benefit, and assets managed grew.
• Broadcom Corp. (NASDAQ: BRCM) revenue surged sequentially but note the would be flat going forward.
• Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) beat Q3 earnings expectations and shares rose though revenue slumped.

Just call it an extended buying opportunity for one of the most trusted banks in the United States. I'm Reiterating my Buy rating for Bank of New York Mellon (NYSE: BK), first recommended on April 6, 2009 at a price of $28.16.

Founded by Alexander Hamilton, perhaps my favorite U.S. Constitution Framer, The Bank of New York provides services that enable institutions and individuals to move and manage their financial assets in more than 100 markets globally. The core of BK's business, custodial services, is doing just fine, with $16 trillion in assets under custody. The First Call FY2009/FY010 EPS estimates for BK are $2.06 to $2.51.

Here are some highlights from last week's earnings coverage from BloggingStocks:

• Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NYSE: AMD) narrowed its net loss in Q2 but not as much as expected.
• Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) posted better-than-expected Q3 results on demand for iPhones and Macs.
• Intuitive Surgical Inc. (NASDAQ: ISRG) reported earnings and revenue that topped expectations.
• JDA Software Group Inc. (NASDAQ: JDAS) shares surged after it reported record results for Q2.
• Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) lower Q4 results still topped earnings estimates, but shares fell.
• VMware Inc. (NYSE: VMW) unimpressive Q2 results still managed to beat analysts' low expectations.
• Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) Q2 profit was flat year over year and revenue and cash flow declined.

Bank of New York Mellon (NYSE: BK - option chain) stock is lower today after the company reported a second-quarter profit this morning of $176 million, or 15 cents per share. Excluding one-time items, BK earned 23 cents per share, missing analysts' estimates of 53 cents per share. BK also announced its quarterly dividend of 0.09 per share down 62% from the previous 0.24. If you think this stock won't be rising too far in the coming months, then it could be a good time to look at a bearish hedged play on BK.

This morning, BK opened at $27.55. So far today the stock has hit a low of $26.48 and a high of $27.67. As of 11:40, BK is trading at $26.89, down $2.22 (-7.6%). The chart for BK looks bullish and S&P gives BK a positive 4 STARS (out of 5) buy ranking.

Analyst upgrades:

• Thomas Weisel upgraded SanDisk (NASDAQ: SNDK) to Overweight from Market Weight due to accelerating manufacturing cost declines, potential NAND flash sourcing upside at Toshiba (OTC: TOSBF) and Samsung and an increase in 2H09 demand.
  
• Oppenheimer upgraded Quality Systems (NASDAQ: QSII) to Perform from Underperform to reflect potential benefits from the stimulus package and channel checks that indicated IT budgets are stabilizing. The firm raised its target price on shares to $54 from $40.
  
• RBC Capital upgraded OSI Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: OSIP) to Outperform from Sector Perform following positive Tarceva survey results and cites valuation.
• Marriott (NYSE: MAR) was upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at JMP Securities.
  
• Grainger (NYSE: GWW) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at BofA/Merrill.
  
• Duncan Energy Partners (NASDAQ: DEP) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at UBS.

The Bank of New York Mellon Corp. (NYSE: BK) has become a minority equity investor in International Derivatives Clearing Group (IDCG), the derivatives clearing unit that's a subsidiary of Nasdaq OMX Group (NASDAQ: NDAQ). Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, nor was the size of the stake -- but it's definitely a symbiotic pact. IDCG will use securities servicing products provided by the bank, and Bank of New York Mellon's chief executive of broker-dealer services, Art Certosimo, will join IDCG's board.

"This strategic partnership with Nasdaq OMX provides our buy side and sell side clients with a flexible platform that meets their derivatives trading, clearing and servicing needs," stated Bank of New York Mellon President Gerald Hassell. Bob Greifeld, CEO of Nasdaq OMX, added that the partnership "lends support to President Obama's proposed reforms of the [over-the-counter] derivatives market."

Analyst upgrades:

• Keefe Bruyette upgraded Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) to Outperform from Market Perform due to valuation and the company's better balance sheet following capital raises. The firm raised its target on shares to $16.50.
  
• Merriman upgraded Blue Coat Systems (NASDAQ:BCSI) to Buy from Neutral to reflect stabilizing demand and merger synergies from the Packeteer acquisition.
  
• Thomas Weisel upgraded Genomic Health (NASDAQ:GHDX) to Overweight from Market Weight based on valuation, a new colon cancer assay expected in 2010, and upside from new sales hires.
• Plexus (NASDAQ:PLXS) was upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Baird.
  
• Great Plains Energy (NYSE:GXP) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Goldman.
  
• Ericsson (nASDAQ:ERIC) was upgraded at Societe Generale to Buy from Hold.

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says this deal is hugely important -- today is the last stand for the bears.

Today is make or break for the short-sellers, the SKFers, the bears on banks. I cannot stress how important the Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) (Cramer's Take) deal is. The syndicate desk placed this stock with great hands, restricting flippers to one-fifth of their orders and giving mutual funds only about a quarter of what they wanted. Plus, given the stealth selling that BAC did ahead of this, the company seems done for now -- maybe forever -- although it can't give back TARP funds. However, it should be able to do bond financing that will put it in a good position to do so. And with the velocity of sales picking up at the same time as the new housing starts go down -- stunning figures there -- it is possible that we could see a reversal of some of Bank of America's soured loans while we see what happens with a big lender begins to get a major share of what can be a lucrative mortgage market. We might look back at BAC at $10 and say, "That was our last good chance to buy it," as there are many, many analysts set to reiterate their buys this morning.

Late Monday, The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation (NYSE: BK) unveiled its plan to sell $1.2 billion worth of stock in order to repay its TARP loan to the U.S. Treasury Department. The company priced 42 million shares at $28.75 a piece, a discount of 3% to the stock's close on Monday.

Even though BK passed the government's stress test with no trouble, the bank is nonetheless eager to raise funds and pay off its debt to the government. Other financial firms selling stock to repay TARP loans include Capital One Financial (NYSE: COF) and U.S. Bancorp (NYSE: USB).

However, investors seem none too pleased with BK's dilutive stock offering. The security shed 2.5% within the first 10 minutes of today's trading, extending BK's retreat from double-top resistance at the $33 level. The shares first shied away from this region in mid-April, and pulled back from the $33 neighborhood again last week.

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says we should closely monitor the situation as more banks raise capital with equity.

What really did happen Friday? I keep thinking about this because, surely, if you saw how well the Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) (Cramer's Take) and Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) (Cramer's Take) deals behaved, didn't you, as a bank player, have to presume that there would be and will be more offerings?

If Wells Fargo went up 6, isn't it reasonable to presume that Bank of New York Mellon (NYSE: BK) (Cramer's Take), KeyCorp (NYSE: KEY) (Cramer's Take), Capital One (NYSE: COF) (Cramer's Take), BB&T (NYSE: BBT) (Cramer's Take) and no doubt all of the others, would do the same? Who wouldn't take advantage of this? Fifth Third (NASDAQ: FITB) (Cramer's Take)? Suntrust (NYSE: STI) (Cramer's Take)?

Why did they rally so much?

U.S. stock futures once again climbed Thursday morning, pointing to Wall Street continuing Wednesday's strong rally ahead of the stress test results. Investors were encouraged by Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, who said no banks are at risk of insolvency. Meanwhile, General Motors (NYSE: GM) results just rolled in with another big loss; investors will also focus on chain store sales.

While results of the tests will only be released this afternoon, more was leaked and for now it seems that Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS), American Express Co. (NYSE: AXP), JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) and Bank of New York Mellon Corp. (NYSE: BK) will not be asked to raise more capital. Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) will need to raise about $5 billion, Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) about $10 billion and Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC) will also be asked to raise capital. They will have one month to come up with a plan to raise the additional resources, federal regulators said Wednesday.

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says we have more than enough good banks to lead us yet higher.

The issue isn't that there are six "bad" banks, it's there are 13 "good" banks. All we need is a plurality of good banks to merge the bad banks into. Anything that creates bigger, more streamlined banks is a win.

Giving PNC (NYSE: PNC) (Cramer's Take) or Bank of New York (NYSE: BK) (Cramer's Take) or JPMorgan (NYSE: JPM) (Cramer's Take) or U.S. Bancorp (NYSE: USB) (Cramer's Take) some bad banks with some guarantees is terrific. Yes, it is true that Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) (Cramer's Take) and Citigroup (NYSE: C) (Cramer's Take) and Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) (Cramer's Take) may need capital. But think of it like this: If you think the banking environment is actually going to get better, you might be willing to buy some sort of convertible bond from these companies that lets you capture equity upside.