BANK OF AMERICA CORP (BAC)

Bank of America names its favorite stocks for the new year.

If the Magnificent Seven and Treasurys can hold at current levels, BofA says that recent lows following Wednesday's Fed meeting are a buying opportunity.

A federal regulator sued JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo and Bank of America on Friday, claiming the banks failed to protect hundreds of thousands of consumers from rampant fraud on the popular payments network Zelle, in violation of consumer financial laws. In the federal civil complaint, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau asserts that the banks rushed to get the peer-to-peer payments platform to market without effective safeguards against fraud and then, after consumers complained about being defrauded on the service, largely denied them relief. The CFPB claims that the banks violated federal consumer financial laws governing electric funds transfers, which require banks conduct “reasonable investigations” when consumers report transaction errors, and the agency's prohibition on unfair acts or practices by failing to take steps to prevent and address fraud on Zelle.

New loans, leases and lines of credit signed up by companies in November rose to $10.36 billion, from $9.53 billion in the year-ago period. The Equipment Leasing & Finance Foundation, ELFA's non-profit affiliate, said its confidence index for December reached a fresh three-year high, indicating that executives expect continued strength in lending volumes and further improvements in financial conditions. The ELFA CapEx Finance Index of leasing and finance activity is based on a 25-member survey which includes Bank of America as well as the financing units of Caterpillar, Dell Technologies, Siemens AG, Canon and Volvo AB.