Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) shares are threatening to break above $10 and the stock has helped lead financial sector ETFs sharply higher in March.
Financial ETFs have seen about $1.5 billion in inflows over the last week with the Financial Select Sector SPDR (NYSEArca: XLF) gaining about $1.2 billion of those assets. ETFs lacking Bank of America shares have underperformed and analysts warn that they may do so going forward, reports Shanthi Bharatwag for The Street. [ETFs That Access High-Price Stocks]
Shares of Bank of America have almost doubled since the start of 2012, lately hovering around $10. Since the beginning of March the stock has gained about 25%, leading the latest large cap bank rally. [ETF Chart of the Day: Banks]
As KBW analyst Fred Cannon wrote in a note Tuesday, large-cap banks have outperformed the sector, with the KBW Bank Index gaining 26% year to date compared to the S&P Banks Select Industry Index, up 22.3%, with both topping the overall S&P Financial Select Sector Index (IXM) performance, which is up 20.96%.