This week, American bank stocks will kick off the earnings season. The market expects the five largest banks, Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, Citibank, and Bank of America, to have the best performance in ten years.

The outlook for the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates in 2022 is optimistic that banks may have another strong year. Barclays analyst Jason Goldberg wrote in a report to clients this week, “We expect bank stocks to continue to outperform the market in 2022.”Matt O'Connor, head of research at Deutsche Bank, shared a similar view and said:It's probably not until 2024 that we'll see big banks earn more than they did in 2021.

Last year, US bank stocks recorded their best annual performance since 2013, and the rise in bank stocks continued at the beginning of this year. The KBW Bank Index, which tracks the 24 largest banks in the US, rose about 10% cumulatively this week, and is expected to record the best performance in history for the first five trading days of the year.