Donald Trump and the big banks appears to be this year’s biggest story of unrequited love.
While Trump has accused Wall Street of trying to ruin the country on the election trail, investors banking on the fact that the next president will be good for nation’s biggest lenders.
Between election night and Monday’s close, the five biggest U.S. banks, which include Bank of America (BAC), Citigroup (C), Goldman Sachs (GS), J.P. Morgan Chase (JPM), Wells Fargo(WFC), have gained $127.7 billion in market cap, a 15% increase from their aggregate market cap at the market’s close Nov. 8.
The banks’ Trump gain is roughly equivalent to GDP of Ethiopia and Kenya combined. It’s also nearly equal to the market cap of Pepsi (PEP), the 119-year old snack and beverage company that’s CEO last week said that Trump’s presidential win has left her female employees asking if they are safe.
All told, the nation’s five largest banks are now worth nearly $1 trillion, which is slightly less than the GDP of Mexico, the world’s 15th largest economy.
The big banks’ gains moderated slightly when the market opened on Tuesday as the Trump rally began to fade, nonetheless by mid-day most of the big banks were only down slightly, and Goldman Sachs (GS), that’s CEO last week tried to mend ties with Trump, was up slightly. The biggest winner was Bank of America, which is up 18% since election, or a market cap of $31 billion.
And its not just the five biggest U.S. banks that enjoyed the bump. A wider tracker of the financial industry, the Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund has gained some 10% since Nov. 8.
Investors are expecting Trump to be friendlier to banks than President Barack Obama’s administration. Trump has proposed policies to dismantle Dodd-Frank, a move that would ease the regulatory burden and associated expenses for banks. But even if that’s wishful thinking, bank investors may still have reason to cheer. Trump’s plans to increase fiscal spending has boosted bond yields—a change that would support higher revenue for banks currently languishing in a low-interest rate environment.
Already, the bond yield curve, which measures the difference between short-term interest rates and long one, has been rising. And that alone is really good news for banks.
