This Week in Finance: Bank of America, Citigroup, Wells Fargo and More

Strong earnings results from U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) and JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) helped both stocks rally this week, with both companies beating the consensus on the top and bottom line. JPMorgan earned $1.55 per share on revenue of $12.21 billion, beating estimates by $0.12 per share and $1.05 billion for its second quarter. For U.S. Bancorp, the financial institution reported slightly less spectacular results, with EPS of $0.83 on sales of $5.45 billion, exceeding the consensus estimates by $0.03 per share and $260 million. Both companies stand to benefit from the strong U.S. economy and potential accommodative central bank stances around the world. A total of 97 funds from our database had a bullish position in JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) and 47 funds were long U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) at the end of March.

Although it didn’t report earnings this week, Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC) shares nevertheless rallied with its peers due to more optimism about the global economy. If the Brexit is no longer considered much of a threat, interest rates could rise faster than expected, and Bank of America could make more in interest income. The more in interest income could translate to more buybacks and dividends and a higher stock price. Among the investors we track, 110 funds owned $5.52 billion worth of Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC)’s stock, which accounted for 4.00% of the float on March 31, versus 113 funds and $6.8 billion, respectively, a quarter earlier.

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