By Rachel Louise Ensign

Bank of America Corp. is expected to report its second-quarter results before the market opens Monday. Here's what you need to know.

1. Earnings expected to rise

Earnings of 57 cents a share is the consensus of analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters, compared to 44 cents the company earned in the same period a year ago.

2. Rates Benefit

Bank of America is seen by investors as one of the lenders that benefits most when rates rise. In the second quarter, the Federal Reserve raised its benchmark rate for a seventh time in its most recent campaign. Keep an eye on how much this lifts profits from lending at the bank.

3. Stalled Stock

If Bank of America's earnings meet or beat expectations, as they have in recent quarters, will it be enough to finally make investors enthusiastic about the bank's shares again? The lender's stock rose 74% between the 2016 presidential election and the end of 2017. But so far in 2018, it is down slightly.

4. Curve Ball

Investors are pessimistic about bank stocks for a number of reasons, including the fact that the spread between short- and longer-term Treasury yields has narrowed, a phenomenon known as a flattening of the yield curve. On Monday's analyst call, executives may weigh in with new details on specifically how this flatter curve could affect the bank's earnings in the future.

5. Deposit Rates

Most banks have managed to avoid passing all of the boost from higher rates on to deposit customers, but Bank of America has been particularly stingy, paying just 0.30% on U.S. interest bearing deposits in the first quarter. Since retail customers keep bringing more money to the bank despite its low deposit rates, the lender has had little incentive to pay more.

Write to Rachel Louise Ensign at rachel.ensign@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 15, 2018 12:14 ET (16:14 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2018 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Bank of America (NYSE:BAC)
Historical Stock Chart
From Mar 2024 to Apr 2024 Click Here for more Bank of America Charts.
Bank of America (NYSE:BAC)
Historical Stock Chart
From Apr 2023 to Apr 2024 Click Here for more Bank of America Charts.