Aren't you the least bit suspicious that Goldman is talking up the banks?

Goldman Sachs has raised its rating on large banks to "attractive." In related news, Neal Barofsky, the special inspector general for the Troubled Asset Relief Program has said that the Feds may have, er, not quite told the truth about the health of the banks receiving TARP funds. He didn't use the word, lie though. How are these two items related? We'll explain below.

First, Goldman's buy on the banks seemed to buoy the market. The Dow finished up 112 points and is just under 9,600. Meanwhile, Aussie stocks shrugged off that sense of impending doom and rallied 43 points yesterday. The ASX 200 is at 4,622 and thoughts of 5,000 by the end of the year must surely be dancing like sugarplums in the heads of some investors. (more)