Bank stress test results delayed (guess why?)

Bank stress test results delayed

Wall Street will have to wait until May 7 to find about how 19 big banks did on the stress tests as regulators push back release of results by three days.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Regulators have delayed releasing the results of stress tests conducted on the nation's largest banks until May 7, government officials familiar with the matter said Friday.

The government expects to release its assessment next Thursday afternoon and will provide information both on individual companies as well as the overall group, according to sources.

For weeks, Wall Street has been anxiously awaiting the results of the tests, which regulators originally indicated would be announced on May 4.

Austan Goolsbee, a top economic adviser to President Obama, indicated Friday that the delay was driven, in part, over a disagreement by banks over the results of the tests. Regulators began notifying participating institutions of the results last Friday.

"It was going to be on Monday, but the banks have the right to go back and make their case to the regulators. . . like they're the guy complaining about their grade in class," Goolsbee said in an interview with CNN's Ed Henry. [more]