Without residential and commercial mortgage loans marked to market, bank financials are works of fiction, just like Japanese banks' financials were in the early '90s.

FORBES: Tax & Finance

That marked the highest number of loans in at least a decade and a 46% jump from fiscal-year 2011.

WSJ: Nursing-Home Operators Turn to the U.S.

The European Central Bank's move in late December to channel hundreds of billions of euros to banks through a new program offering three-year loans at low interest rates marked a turning point in reigniting investors' appetite for emerging markets.

WSJ: Greek Vote Could Reignite Emerging-Market Currencies