Financial stocks had one heck of a time last year.
The combination of rising interest rates and a better economy helped the sector realize higher profits, a return to dividend growth and great overall share price returns. Many of these factors that propelled the banks are still going today.
But the banks may have an additional tool in their arsenal heading into 2018. And that’s reduced regulation.
Given the current administration’s penchant for cutting red tape, a few surveys of banking executives predict that the major financial institutions will be facing far less oversight going forward. Whether that will be good for consumers is debatable. But it will be great for investors, and that could mean the sector is a huge buy heading into the new year.
