(This is The Best Stocks in the Market , brought to you by Josh Brown and Sean Russo of Ritholtz Wealth Management.) Josh — The interest rate on the benchmark 30-year fixed mortgage rate has come down in 9 of the last 12 weeks and regional banks are starting to break through like the Kool-Aid Man. Oh yeah! Over the weekend, the Wall Street Journal took a look at the number of homeowners who could now benefit from a refinancing given that this benchmark rate has fallen to 6.56%. The Journal says , “More than two million owners could now save money by refinancing…up from 1.7 million at the end of July. If rates keep falling to 6%, nearly six million people would reduce their rate by at least 0.75 percentage points in a refinancing, a common threshold at which homeowners would save enough to justify the associated costs.” Mortgage refinancings are just one of many things that begin to pick up at the banks when borrowing costs decline. The overall increase in activity from falling rates has historically more than offset the potential for net interest margin (or NIM) to compress, thus making this a positive tradeoff for the banks. And regional bank stocks are now reacting to all the possibilities. Sean’s going to give you our regular Monday overview (yes, I know it’s Tuesday) of everything happening on the Best Stocks list, and then we’ll show you some notable charts. Of the names mentioned, I own JPMorgan at the time of publishing. Sector leaderboard As of Sept. 2, there are 202 names on The Best Stocks in the Market list. Top Sector Ranking: Top industries: Top 5 best stocks by relative strength: Sean — Financials are dominating through Q3 of 2025, with 39 names on the Best Stocks in the Market list. As of Friday’s close, 65% of the S & P 500 are above their 50 day moving average, while 75% of S & P financials are above their 50 day moving average, second highest in the S & P behind discretionary stocks at 78%. Similarly, financials have the most 52-week highs out of all sectors at 9% of the sector making a new high over the past year: While the capital markets industry group has been a top 2 or 3 industry on our list all year, the rest of the financial sector is heating up. We now have 7 banks on the list: BAC, C, HBAN, JPM, PNC, TFC, and WFC. The diversified stalwart that is JPM, and its peer group of WFC and C are well known and discussed. One group that’s been collectively left behind is the regional banks. Truist is a less-well-known name on the list with an interesting set-up: You can see the stock just broke above its July highs, nearing its pre-liberation day highs. Truist is the third largest regional bank in the S & P 500. At the Liberation-Day lows, the XLF was down 9% in 2025, while the KRE (S & P Regional Banking ETF) was down 19%. The smaller banks were punished because of fears centered around small businesses and their ability to navigate tariffs amid a slowing labor market and a moderately high rate environment. This is the XLF vs the KRE from April 8th: These small banks are slaughtering the low expectations the market set for them. Below is PNC , the largest regional bank in the U.S. by market cap. PNC beat on its top and bottom lines when it reported in July, and guided higher for the current quarter: Most of these financial charts look the same. Breakouts up to or above pre-liberation day highs. The message from the tape is clear: financials aren’t just participating in this rally, they’re leading it. With breadth, 52-week highs, and breakouts lining up across the group, the market is starting to re-rate these cyclicals, especially the regionals. If the banks and capital markets firms can sustain these moves and take advantage of what could be the beginnings of a non-recessionary cutting cycle, these value plays could be in for more breakouts ahead… Risk management: Josh — I like the KRE names broadly as a sector overweight at the moment. This chart is one of my faves in the group – it’s Huntington Bancshares , an Ohio-based regional with a thousand branches that was founded in 1866 and has a long-term chart that looks like this: I don’t believe in triple tops. I think this one gets a two-handle in front of it before long. Cautious traders can use the $15.50 to $16 area for risk management. Longer-term investors can just swim naked with a 13 PE ratio and a 3.5% yield. Your risk is recession, same as your risk with everything else. The chart above is showing you that the stock is now emerging from an inverse head and shoulders. An inverse head and shoulders is a classic technical analysis chart pattern that signals a potential trend reversal from bearish to bullish. These are among the more reliable reversal patterns that technicians look at, especially when accompanied by steadily increasing volume as is the case with HBAN. These are the set-ups I dream about. DISCLOSURES: (Josh owns JPMorgan, as noted above) All opinions expressed by the CNBC Pro contributors are solely their opinions and do not reflect the opinions of CNBC, NBC UNIVERSAL, their parent company or affiliates, and may have been previously disseminated by them on television, radio, internet or another medium. THE ABOVE CONTENT IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY . THIS CONTENT IS PROVIDED FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY AND DOES NOT CONSITUTE FINANCIAL, INVESTMENT, TAX OR LEGAL ADVICE OR A RECOMMENDATION TO BUY ANY SECURITY OR OTHER FINANCIAL ASSET. 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