JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) CEO Jamie Dimon’s golden age of banking looks more like a blip.
U.S. bank stocks that were supposed to benefit from rising interest rates — and fatter lending profits — are instead getting hammered by investor fears of a recession, feeble trading profits and stiff competition for deposits.
On average, the 24 largest U.S. bank stocks are down 17% in the past three months alone, based on trading in an exchange-traded fund that tracks them. JPMorgan, the nation’s largest lender, has fallen 12%, while Citigroup Inc. (C) has plunged 19% and Bank of America Corp. (BAC) is down 20%. The broader Standard & Poor’s 500 Index is down by just 8.3% over the period.
