Doing God's Work By Building a Tower of Babel

The tale of the Tower of Babel is said to explain the origin of different languages in the world. As the story goes, a group of survivors of the Great Flood in the Book of Genesis are united in language and ambition to build a tower tall enough to reach heaven. God takes umbrage to this act and subsequently creates multiple language barriers to impede the tower's progress, ultimately dividing the people, too.

It has been a good seven years since CEO Blankfein of Goldman Sachs said he was just a banker doing "God's work." In front of earnings tomorrow morning, Goldman has nearly made it all the way to its pre-crisis 2007 highs in less than ten years, just a few points below now. If you look throughout market history, it should take a few more years, at least, before new highs set in. 

But many of the banks, and especially Goldman, have built their own figurative Towers of Babel since last summer and sell-off in bonds. As rates go higher, the knee-jerk reaction has been for banks to rally. That assumption may get tested in the coming months. And, of course, if bonds rally and rates head back down that may impact the progress financials made in the back half of 2016.

For now, between BAC JPM WFC and MS, the initial move has been to sell banks down and possibly reset them after this earnings season. 

We shall see if Blankfein and Goldman in general have upset the market gods with that monthly chart Tower of Babel move to all-time highs, essentially erasing any semblance of a financial crisis, let alone prior sell-off.