Banks are in a painful limbo period as the firms anxiously await third-quarter earnings. The releases will arrive just as the banks are steering down new troubles, from weak trading revenue to declining mortgage-refinancing activity. The Wall Street Journal has more on the lingering risks, including the threat of more job cuts:

The tempered expectations are a troubling sign for an industry already struggling to overcome lackluster loan demand, a weak economy and the hangover from the 2008 financial crisis, as regulators and government investigators work through a backlog of cases focused on banks' activities during the housing downturn.

"For a while we thought a light was at the end of the tunnel," said Gerard Cassidy, a banking analyst with RBC Capital Markets. "It seems to be a Mack truck."