I received a very interesting question this week: Hi FH, can you share some perspectives why the 3 local bank share price have been falling and what are the signals we should look out for as a good time to buy? Very interesting – and I’ve had quite a bit of thoughts on the local banks that I wanted to share for a while now. There’s actually 3 parts to the reader’s question:

1. Are DBS, OCBC, UOB bank stock prices dropping?
2. Why are they dropping?
3. When will I buy bank stocks in 2024 – and what signals will I look out for?

Let’s discuss each. Are DBS, OCBC, UOB prices dropping? First off – are the bank stocks even dropping? I extracted the chart of DBS below. Yes, price at 31.4 has come down 15% from cycle highs of 37 (hit in Feb 2022). But it’s also hard to say DBS is in a clear downtrend. While the stock is making lower highs, it hasn’t made a lower low just yet....