JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), Bank of America Corp (BAC): The Dow’s Down 75 Points — Who Cares?

In other words, these conjectures about the central bank are just a pretext. The market is dropping because that’s what markets do sometimes. They go up, and they go down.

With respect to individual stocks, there does seem to be a reliable explanation for banks’ outperformance. Shares of both JJPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) and Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC) are up moderately following the FDIC’s report on quarterly bank performance. According to the agency, domestic banks and savings institutions earned the largest quarterly profit on record in the first three months of 2013. Given that JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) and Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC)are the nation’s largest and second-largest banks by assets, respectively, it makes sense that the market would reward them accordingly. For the year, JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) stock is up 25%, while Bank of America stock is higher by 15%.

The article The Dow’s Down 75 Points — Who Cares? originally appeared on Fool.com.

John Maxfield owns shares of Bank of America. The Motley Fool owns shares of Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase.

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