New York, Jan 5, 2026, 13:24 EST — Regular session
- Bank of America shares rise about 2% as U.S. financial stocks lead Wall Street higher
- Traders rotate into banks ahead of Friday’s U.S. payrolls report and the start of earnings season
- Barclays lifts its price target on BAC; the bank’s quarterly results are due Jan. 14
Bank of America shares rose 2.2% to $57.17 in afternoon trading on Monday, moving with a broad rally in U.S. bank stocks that helped lift Wall Street’s main indexes.
The move matters because investors are repositioning early in the year, rotating into financials after a late-2025 tech pullback and ahead of a key run of economic and earnings catalysts. Financials were up about 2.5% on the day, Reuters reported.
Banks are sensitive to interest-rate expectations because higher rates can boost the spread between what lenders earn on loans and pay on deposits. Markets are pricing roughly 60 basis points — 0.60 percentage point — of Federal Reserve rate cuts in 2026, Reuters said, with attention turning to Friday’s monthly U.S. nonfarm payrolls report.
“The mood has been favoring financial stocks in recent days,” said Steve Sosnick, chief market analyst at Interactive Brokers, pointing to a broader risk-on tone. Reuters
Bank of America touched an intraday high of $57.54, within reach of the stock’s 52-week high of about $57.55, based on widely tracked market data.
On the analyst front, Barclays raised its price target on Bank of America to $71 from $59 and reiterated an “Overweight” rating — meaning it recommends holding more of the stock than a benchmark allocation — according to TheFly. TipRanks
The next major company catalyst is Bank of America’s quarterly report. The lender is scheduled to release results for the fourth quarter of 2025 on Wednesday, Jan. 14, at about 6:45 a.m. ET, followed by an investor call at 8:30 a.m. ET, the company said.
Investors will be watching net interest income — the difference between interest earned and interest paid — along with expense trends and signs of credit stress as the economy absorbs shifting rate expectations.
But the bank rally faces a near-term test: a stronger-than-expected payrolls report could force traders to scale back rate-cut bets, tightening financial conditions and weighing on rate-sensitive sectors.
Bank of America was moving broadly in step with peers on Monday, with JPMorgan up about 3.5%, Citigroup up about 4.3% and Wells Fargo up about 1.7%, while the Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund gained about 2.7%.
The next catalysts are Friday’s U.S. nonfarm payrolls report and Bank of America’s Jan. 14 earnings release and conference call.
