The iShares Dow Jones US Financial Services (NYSEARCA:IYG) ETF has clocked an impressive 14.67% return for the year so far. This vehicle tracks the performance of a wide assortment of finance stocks like commercial banks, investment banks, asset manager and credit card firms. Of course, the overall bull move in the markets has been a major factor. After all, the 12-month return of the IYG is still -5.66%. Besides, there are still some headwinds for finance stocks. One is the drop in interest...

The financial technology, or fintech, sector offers enormous growth potential for investors. Just look at Square (NYSE:SQ) stock, which is up over 100% this year. But fintech does not just affect scrappy startups. Traditional, large financial institutions and their stocks, such as Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) and BAC stock, can also be positively influenced by fintech. Granted, BAC stock hasn’t done much this year. Consider that Bank of America stock has only risen about 3% in 2018, while it...

During 2018, the return on Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) has been uninspiring, coming to about 5%. Yet various other large banks have posted worse returns than BAC stock; Citigroup (NYSE:C) and Wells-Fargo (NYSE:WFC) have generated negative returns. OK, what’s going on here? Well, it looks like investors think much of the good news has already been reflected in the stocks’ valuations. Keep in mind that bank stocks generated strong returns in 2016 and 2017. So it’s natural for there to be a...