USB has underperformed over the past three months, and a weak stock ahead of earnings usually signals bad news, so the outlook is bearish into earnings with limited risk; weaker banks like USB may fall further as JPMorgan's report shows the sector cooling.

Wells Fargo, US Bancorp, Citigroup, First Fifth Third, M&T, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Citizens, PNC. Almost every stock, as you can see here below. Look at the number of stocks in the financial sector that underperform the market and have a relatively weak performance before earnings announcements.

Now, as you can see, "US Bancorp", "Bank of America", "JP Morgan". JPMorgan just announced its results this morning, so that doesn't apply here. Progressive, BNG, Wells Fargo, Citigroup, Interactive Brokers.

There are a lot of names on my downward list, aren't there? These are stocks with relatively weak strength. Its performance has been poor over the past three months. So, when you have a poorly performing stock that has continued to decline over the previous quarter, that's not a good sign ahead of earnings season.

It is not a guarantee that the stock will decline, but statistically, if a stock is underperforming and its results are poor, this is usually a sign that there is some potentially bad news ahead as the earnings season approaches.

So, as you can see, US Bancorp and Bank of America are at the top of the list, giving me some opportunity to take a primarily bearish view with limited risk ahead of earnings.

So, as you can see, US Bancorp is structured for you based on risk versus return. At US Bancorp, I risk $992 for a potential profit of $2,200 between now and the expiration date of November 6.

So, basically, buying a 53-57 spread, or sorry, a 53-57 spread, a bearish sell spread. So, I buy a put option at an execution price of 57, and sell a put option at an execution price of 53.

That will give me slightly better risk than two to one. I risk less than a thousand dollars to earn more than 2200 dollars.

So, if you look at all these stocks, all these financial stocks, right? US Bancorp, Citigroup, I have a bearish outlook on all of these stocks, but they do not all have the same risk-to-reward ratio from an options strategy perspective.

This system does all the work for you at once in a few seconds, telling you that US Bancorp and Bank of America will give you the best risk-to-reward ratio if you are pessimistic about the financial sector and worried that these banks may perform poorly.

I think JPMorgan's earnings report this morning confirms that the financial sector is not the booming sector it was a few quarters ago. Fixed income trading declined, even though JPMorgan's results came in slightly better than expected.

They are still what we consider the best in this field. So, if JPMorgan is the best of them all, and we start to see signs of a decline in it, then some of the weaker names, such as US Bancorp, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo, might start to see more declines, right?