NEW YORK, December 28, 2025, 21:02 ET — Market closed
- Bank of America shares ended Friday down about 0.1% at $56.17 in light, post-holiday trading.
- CEO Brian Moynihan said markets would “punish people” if the Federal Reserve loses its independence, in remarks aired Sunday. CBS News
- Traders are looking to Monday’s pending home sales data and Tuesday’s Fed minutes for fresh signals on rates.
Bank of America Corp shares closed down about 0.1% on Friday at $56.17. The stock heads into Monday after CEO Brian Moynihan warned that markets would “punish people” if the Federal Reserve loses its independence. Investing.com+1
The comments land as investors move into the final trading days of the year, when volumes can be thin and rate expectations often set the tone for bank stocks. For lenders, the Fed’s outlook shapes borrowing costs, loan growth and credit quality.
Moynihan’s warning also touches a live issue for investors: who will lead the central bank next. CBS News said President Donald Trump is searching for a successor to Fed Chair Jerome Powell, whose term is set to expire in May 2026.
U.S. stocks finished slightly lower on Friday in a subdued session after the Christmas holiday, the Associated Press reported. The 10-year Treasury yield was little changed around 4.13%, leaving bank shares without a strong push from rates.
Bank of America traded between $56.03 and $56.55 on Friday, with about 15.26 million shares changing hands, well below its three-month average of about 36 million shares, according to Investing.com data.
Other large lenders also ended mostly lower. JPMorgan Chase fell about 0.4%, Citigroup slipped about 0.9% and Wells Fargo was fractionally down, market data showed.
Moynihan’s remarks were aired Sunday in a segment recorded on Dec. 17, CBS News reported. “The market will punish people if we don’t have an independent Fed,” he said. CBS News
The next scheduled test for rate expectations comes Tuesday. The Fed’s calendar shows the central bank will publish minutes from its December policy meeting at 2:00 p.m. ET on Dec. 30, a fuller account of how officials debated the outlook.
At that meeting, the Fed lowered its target range for the federal funds rate by a quarter of a percentage point — 25 basis points — to 3-1/2% to 3-3/4%, it said in a statement. The federal funds rate is the benchmark for short-term borrowing costs across the economy.
For Bank of America, shifts in rate expectations matter because they influence net interest income — the difference between what a bank earns on loans and what it pays depositors — as well as demand for mortgages and other credit. Moves in longer-term yields also ripple into valuations for the bank’s investment portfolio.
Before Monday’s open, investors will watch the National Association of Realtors’ pending home sales report for November, due at 10 a.m. ET. The index tracks signed contracts for existing homes and tends to lead existing-home sales by a month or two.
Tuesday brings more than the Fed minutes. Home-price data are also on deck: the S&P Cotality Case-Shiller home price index is typically released at 9 a.m. ET on the last Tuesday of the month, with the next release scheduled for Dec. 30, according to S&P Dow Jones Indices and the St. Louis Fed’s FRED database.
Investors also have a firm date for Bank of America’s next earnings report. The bank said it plans to report fourth-quarter results on Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026, with a conference call for investors at 8:30 a.m. ET.
Technically, the stock is perched near the top of its 52-week range, with data showing a 52-week high of $56.55 and a low of $33.07. With year-end volumes light, traders will be watching whether shares can hold near those highs once markets reopen and fresh signals on rates and housing hit the tape.
