According to government accounting, seven banks have now paid back their TARP monies. And for many reasons a whole host of banks are now racing to pay back their obligations to the US Treasury.

To date $467,310,000 has been paid back. In addition those seven banks have paid the accrued dividends associated with the TARP program terms.

Treasury Secretary Geithner's underscored the government program success on Tuesday stating that "the vast majority" of banks now have enough capital. Geithner also told a congressional committee that additional banks would be allowed to repay financial bailout funds once bank regulators give the nod.

And continuing the string of better-than-expected financial sector earnings, the following banking and financial firms beat First Call income estimates on Tuesday:

- First Cash Financial Services (FCFS)
- Huntington Bancshares Inc. (HBAN)
- Jefferies Group Inc. (JEF)
- Regions Financial Corp. (RF)
- State Street Corp. (STT)
- US Bancorp (USB)
- Western Union (WU)

More evidence that the stock market rally will continue to be fueled by earnings news that is clearly not as bad as expected - particularly in the financial sector that was decimated last year.