Bank of America kicked off a wave of strong results from the nation’s largest lenders. Profits jumped 17% to $8.6 billion, or $1.11 a share. That’s well above the $1.01 analysts expected. Revenue climbed 7% to $30.3 billion. The numbers cap a week where peers like JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, and Wells Fargo also topped forecasts, painting a picture of economic staying power despite soaring gasoline prices from the Iran conflict.
Chief Executive Brian Moynihan captured the mood. “During the first quarter, his bank ‘saw healthy client activity, including solid consumer spending and stable asset quality, indicating a resilient American economy,’” he said, according to a Yahoo Finance report. But. He added a note of caution: “We remain watchful of evolving risks.” Those risks? Skyrocketing fuel costs hitting household budgets hard.
Consumer spending tells the story. Debit and credit card transactions from Bank of America’s U.S. customers rose 6% from a year earlier. Delinquencies on cards over 90 days dipped to 1.30% from 1.34%. Charge-offs eased too, thanks to seasonal factors in credit cards. It’s not cracking yet. Gasoline spending, though, spiked 16% year over year in March as averages hit a record $4.12 a gallon, per data highlighted on X by @KobeissiLetter.
And the investment banking side lit up. Fees soared to $1.8 billion, with M&A advisory up 45%. Sales and trading revenue hit $6.4 billion. Equities trading jumped 30%—a record. Fixed-income ticked higher. This mirrors the broader trend. JPMorgan reported $16.5 billion in net income on $49.8 billion revenue, Citigroup $5.8 billion on $24.6 billion, and Wells Fargo $5.3 billion on $21.4 billion, as detailed in a Wall Street Journal analysis. The big three alone pocketed $27.53 billion combined, up 17%.
Net interest income powered much of it. Bank of America’s rose 9% to $15.9 billion. Management bumped full-year guidance to 6%-8% growth, citing loan and deposit expansion, per the bank’s news release. Loans and deposits grew solidly year over year. Efficiency improved too—the ratio fell 170 basis points to 61%. Operating leverage hit 290 basis points.
Trading desks feasted on volatility. Equities revenue at $2.83 billion marked Bank of America’s best quarter in 15 years. Across the sector, the top banks raked in record trading income, fueled by fixed income, currencies, and commodities swings from geopolitical chaos. Reuters noted Bank of America’s sales and trading up 13%, with equities at record volumes (Reuters).
But small cracks show. Provisions for credit losses came in at $1.3 billion, below the $1.5 billion forecast. Still, charge-off rates on cards edge higher at peers—JPMorgan at 3.47%, Citi private-label at 5.05%, Wells Fargo 4.21%, as flagged by @AureusMacro on X. Fuel costs absorb the buffer first. Discretionary spending holds: entertainment up 12%, travel 6%, retail 5% last quarter.
Morgan Stanley joined the party, beating estimates and sending shares up 4.4%, per Barron’s. Bank of America stock rose 1.8%. Yet year to date, BAC lags the S&P 500, down amid broader bank underperformance. The sector notched double-digit revenue jumps, but investors eye sustainability.
Geopolitics looms large. Banks call the economy resilient amid the Iran war’s oil shock. Higher energy prices weigh on consumers, the WSJ reported. JPMorgan cut full-year NII guidance slightly to $103 billion. Bank of America economists trimmed 2026 GDP to 2.3% and hiked inflation to 3.1%, per Reuters snippets.
Loan growth favors big players. JPMorgan deployed $855 billion in Q1, but just $8 billion to U.S. small businesses—less than 1%—as @AureusMacro pointed out. Wells Fargo 1.74%, Bank of America 2.26%. Capital flows up the stack. Into large corps, duration, leverage.
Credit quality holds. But watch charge-offs. If gas stays high, it crowds out other spending. Banks sit on strong capital and liquidity, above requirements. Client activity stays healthy. Still, executives stay vigilant.
This earnings haul beats low expectations. Trading windfalls from volatility. NII resilience post-rate cuts. Consumer spending intact—for now. The U.S. economy bends. It doesn’t break. Yet.