NEW YORK, January 2, 2026, 19:38 ET — After-hours
Bank of America shares were last up 1.7% at $55.95 in after-hours trading on Friday. The stock traded between $54.89 and $55.99 in the session, with about 25.5 million shares changing hands.
The gain put the lender in step with a rate-driven shift that has investors re-pricing banks into the new year. The 10-year Treasury yield rose to 4.195% as U.S. stocks seesawed to a mixed close, with the Dow up 0.67% and the S&P 500 up 0.26%, a Reuters market report said. 1
The focus now turns to next week’s heavy run of U.S. data, capped by January 9’s payrolls report, for clues on whether the Federal Reserve cuts rates further; markets are already pricing in two cuts for 2026, Reuters reported. “It’s going to be a time to actually do a lot of assessment,” said Juan Perez, director of trading at Monex USA. 2
Bank of America’s move largely tracked other big U.S. lenders on Friday. JPMorgan Chase rose 1.01% and Wells Fargo gained 2.15%, according to MarketWatch. 3
In company-specific activity, BofA Finance LLC on January 2 filed a preliminary prospectus supplement for auto-callable notes linked to the Nasdaq-100, Russell 2000 and S&P 500, fully and unconditionally guaranteed by Bank of America, an SEC filing showed. The filing said the notes are expected to price on January 27 and issue on January 30. 4
Such structured-note issuance is routine for large banks and does not typically drive the common stock day to day. It does, however, underline continued demand for equity-linked products even as volatility in rates and risk assets remains elevated.
For equity investors, the bigger near-term catalyst is earnings and management’s read on the rate backdrop. Net interest income — the spread between what a bank earns on loans and what it pays on deposits — can swing with the shape of the yield curve and how quickly deposit costs reprice.
Credit is another watchpoint. Any change in consumer delinquencies or loss provisions tends to land quickly in bank valuations when investors are already debating the pace of rate cuts.
Bank of America has said it will report fourth-quarter 2025 results on January 14, with a release at about 6:45 a.m. ET and a conference call at 8:30 a.m. ET. 5
With shares back near the $56 level, traders will be watching whether the stock can hold above $55 into the jobs data and the earnings print, particularly if bond yields stay volatile.
For now, the setup keeps Bank of America trading as much on rates and sector tape as on company headlines, with investors looking for clarity on margins, credit and any shift in management’s tone for 2026.
