Fourth-quarter 2024 profits at Bank of America (BAC) and Morgan Stanley (MS) more than doubled, cementing a Wall Street revival that has dealmakers optimistic about the coming Trump era in 2025. Strong investment banking and trading results also helped push profits higher at other big banks in the fourth quarter,
Bank of America shares rose in premarket trading Thursday as the bank's fourth-quarter results beat analysts' estimates.
Bank of America and Morgan Stanley are next up in a series of bank earnings reports due out this week. The firms report fourth-quarter results on Thursday morning. Their competitors—JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo,
Bank of America stock, for example, was down 2% after reporting a 116% spike in earnings. M&T Bank, US Bancorp, and PNC Financial were all down about the same, or more. Only Morgan Stanley stock was rising Thursday, but it is primarily an investment bank and asset manager, and less a consumer bank.
Investors will be keen to hear about the company's target for 2025, especially as expectations for rate cuts have been reined in. Bank of America is scheduled to report fourth-quarter earnings before the opening bell Thursday. How will shifting expectations on interest rates impact Bank of America?
Goldman Sachs posted its best profit since the third quarter of 2021, driven by bankers who brought in more fees from dealmaking, debt sales and strength in trading, sending its shares up 3% before the bell.
Here are some of the major companies whose stocks moved on the week’s news.
JPMorgan notched a record profit of $58.5 billion, up from $49.6 billion in 2023, America’s biggest bank reported on Wednesday. Goldman Sachs said its profits soared to $14 billion in 2024, compared to $8.5 billion a year earlier.
JPMorgan, Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs and Citi kicked off earnings season on Wednesday with their December-quarter results.
Broadcom and Goldman Sachs lead this weekend's watchlist of stocks that are just above traditional or early buy points.
JPMorgan Chase stands head-and-shoulders above the rest of this group of largest U.S. banks by ROAA, while Morgan Stanley runs a pretty close second when its performance is measured by ROTCE. And with such a large balance sheet, it is not a stretch to call JPM the best performer in the U.S. banking industry.