Why Bank of America Corp (BAC) Is Defying the Market Today

After peaking this morning at $11.96, shares of Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC) are back down to $11.91, but up 0.21% overall after opening the day at $11.77. While 0.21% isn’t exactly a world-beating move, it’s move enough to easily beat the remainder of its big-five brethren.

The tale of the ticker
Here’s where some of banking’s big guns are shaking out so far:

1). Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) is down 0.09%.

2). JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) is down nearly half a point, dropping 0.47%.

3). Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) is down nearly a quarter of a point, falling 0.23%.

4). Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) is down 0.04%.

And the big banks, barring B of A, aren’t the only market laggards today: All the major U.S. indexes are flat or down as well. What’s driving the market down, and why is B of A doing such a good job of going against it?

Riding the wave
Mixed earnings results from a wide range of companies could be behind the day’s bear market. According to Financial Times, every major sector is trading lower today, except consumer discretionary companies, which are up a bit.

As for B of A, there’s no easily quantifiable reason for why it’s running with the bulls today. There’s no “breaking” good news for B of A or anything like that. One possibility is pure momentum. As investors know, the bank has been on a tear for more than a year now. As choppy as the stock has been lately, it’s been on an undeniable upward trend. Investors are bullish on B of A overall, which helps keep the stock buoyant even as everything around it is either treading water or sinking.

Bank of America is far from my favorite bank (very far, actually), but even I’ll admit that there have been some bright spots for the banking giant that have stoked the fire fueling B of A bulls. Those bright spots include the continued clearing up of the bank’s legal liabilities, including the settlement with Fannie Mae last month.

We know that investor confidence goes a long way in investing, and B of A investors over the last year have rarely found themselves short of confidence in their favorite bank. But always remember that investing Foolishly means looking at the long term, and sometimes ignoring the day-to-day fluctuations in stock prices.