U.S. banks soared early Wednesday to lead S&P 500 gainers, after former President Donald Trump won a sweeping victory in the U.S. presidential election and was expected to create a less stringent regulatory regime.
Banks have been pushing all year to loosen capital requirements. They are also expected to benefit from potential tax cuts, as well as the market rally that set in after Trump was declared the winner, with stock futures rallying, the dollar surging and Treasury yields jumping.
"Markets seem to have accepted that another Trump term would mean a supportive and expansionary fiscal policy, which could positively impact growth in the US," said Daniela Sabin Hathorn, senior market analyst at Capital.com. "This is evident in the bullish reaction in equities, especially those largely influenced by the domestic economy."
Discover Financial Services (DFS) led S&P 500 gainers, up 11.9%. Capital One Financial Corp. (COF) was up 10.2%, Synchrony Financial (SYF) was up 10.4% and Citizens Financial Group Inc. (CFG) was up 9%.
Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC) was up 9.3%, KeyCorp (KEY) was up 8.6% and PNC Financial Services Group Inc. (PNC) was up 8.4%.
Among the big money center banks, Citigroup Inc. (C) was up 8%, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) was up 8% and Bank of America Corp. (BAC) was up 7.7%.
JPMorgan Chase & Co. Inc. (JPM) was up 6.8% and Morgan Stanley (MS) was up 7%.
The Financial Select Sector SPDR exchange-traded fund XLF was up 5% and the iShares U.S. Regional Banks ETF IAT was up 11%. The Invesco KBW Regional Banking ETF KBWR was up 4%.
-Ciara Linnane
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