Bank stocks notched their first monthly gain since before the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank in March after passing the Federal Reserve’s stress test.
The KBW Bank Index gained more than 5% in June, marking its best period since January. The Fed’s announcement late Wednesday that all lenders passed this year’s stress test helped boost the hard-hit sector and reassure uneasy investors.
Still, it remains to be seen if the group can maintain the momentum as more regulatory scrutiny looms. Bloomberg reported Friday that US officials are weighing limits on large banks’ borrowing from Federal Home Loan Banks as a financial backstop.
Comerica Inc., PacWest Bancorp and Bank OZK all rallied by more than 15% this month. Among the largest US lenders, JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Wells Fargo & Co. advanced by about 7%, and saw shares tick slighly higher in after-hours trading Friday following announcements that they and Morgan Stanley are increasing dividends after the Fed’s stress test.
Bank stocks have struggled to find sufficient momentum to stage a sustained bounce from March, when regional banks, in particular, tumbled as Silicon Valley Bank collapsed. The sector gauge remains down by 20% so far this year.
Read More: Big Banks’ Stocks Advance After Lenders Ace Fed Stress Test
The annual stress test is just the first regulatory hurdle for banks to clear in the coming months. Banks will face so-called Basel III Endgame rules and potential greater scrutiny from the Fed in the wake of the Silicon Valley Bank. Earnings season is also fast-approaching.
“We see three regulatory waves of the summer of 2023, and the stress test is simply the first of three waves. Banks dove through the first wave and seemed just fine,” Wells Fargo analyst Mike Mayo said by phone earlier this week. “But there’s a swell right behind that, and one more behind that too.”
(Updates throughout to market close, adds dividend detail in fourth paragraph.)
