Operator
Good day, everyone, and welcome to the Bank of America first-quarter earnings announcement. [Operator instructions] Please note today s call is being recorded. And it is now my pleasure to turn the conference over to Lee McEntire. Please go ahead.
Lee McEntire
Senior Vice President, Investor Relations
Good morning. Thank you for joining the call to review our first-quarter results. Hopefully, you ve all had a chance to review our earnings release documents. As usual, they re available, including the earnings presentation that we ll be referring to during the call on the new and improved investor relations section of the bankofamerica.com website.
Operator
Greetings, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Truist Financial Corporation First Quarter 2021 Earnings Conference. As a reminder, this event is being recorded.
It is now my pleasure to introduce your host, Alan Greer of Investor Relations.
Alan Greer
Investor Relations Officer
Thank you, Katie, and good morning, everyone. We appreciate you joining our call today. We have our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Kelly King; President and COO, Bill Rogers; and CFO, Daryl Bible, who will highlight a number of strategic priorities and discuss Truist s first quarter 21 results. Chris Henson, Head of Banking and Insurance; and Clarke Starnes, our Chief Risk Officer, will also participate in the Q&A portion of our call.
A Huge Week Is Looming for Financial Sector ETFs April 13, 2021
Financial sector exchange traded funds are in for a big week as Wall Street banks kick off the first quarter earnings season.
RBC Capital Markets’ Gerard Cassidy anticipates financials to exceed Wall Street expectations when they start reporting this week, CNBC reports.
“The big beats are likely to come from the loan loss reserve releasing numbers,” Cassidy, RBC Capital Markets’ head of U.S. bank equity strategy, told CNBC. “Last year because of the pandemic, the banking industry set aside billions of dollars in anticipated credit losses, and the reserves for these losses weren’t used.”
The big beats are likely to come from the loan loss reserve releasing numbers, the firm s head of U.S. bank equity strategy told CNBC s Trading Nation on Friday. Last year because of the pandemic, the banking industry set aside billions of dollars in anticipated credit losses, and the reserves for these losses weren t used.
Financials were the third worst performing S&P 500 group in 2020, behind energy and real estate. So far this year, Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund, which tracks the group, is up more than 19%.
According to Cassidy, that s about to change. He believes the banking sector will be among the best performers this year due to the unprecedented economic recovery.