What Happened?
A number of stocks jumped in the afternoon session after easing oil prices reduced inflation and recession risk, with the Russell 2000 heavy in regional banks surging on the session.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average traded higher despite weakness in energy and healthcare stocks while industrial giants and banking shares supported the rally, Investors rotated toward companies expected to benefit from easing oil prices. Still, bond market volatility continued to influence sentiment after the 30 year Treasury yield briefly crossed 5.19%, its highest level in nearly two decades.
The stock market overreacts to news, and big price drops can present good opportunities to buy high-quality stocks.
Among others, the following stocks were impacted:
- Regional Banks company Eastern Bank (NASDAQ: EBC) jumped 2.7%. Is now the time to buy Eastern Bank? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
- Regional Banks company Merchants Bancorp (NASDAQ: MBIN) jumped 2.7%. Is now the time to buy Merchants Bancorp? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
Zooming In On Merchants Bancorp (MBIN)
Merchants Bancorp’s shares are not very volatile and have only had 7 moves greater than 5% over the last year. In that context, today’s move indicates the market considers this news meaningful, although it might not be something that would fundamentally change its perception of the business.
The biggest move we wrote about over the last year was 4 months ago when the stock gained 16.3% on the news that the company reported fourth-quarter 2025 results that surpassed Wall Street's expectations for both earnings and revenue.
The bank posted earnings per share of $1.28, easily clearing the analyst consensus of $0.97. Revenue for the quarter came in at $185.3 million, topping the $171.9 million analysts had forecast, though this represented a 4.4% decline from the previous year. The strong performance was driven by better-than-expected net interest income, a key measure of a bank's core lending profitability.
Additionally, the company's tangible book value per share, a critical metric for bank valuation, grew by 9.8% year-over-year to $37.51, reflecting underlying value creation for shareholders.
Merchants Bancorp is up 38.5% since the beginning of the year, and at $45.96 per share, it is trading close to its 52-week high of $49.89 from April 2026. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Merchants Bancorp’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $1,576.
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