the outlook for wage and technology expenses weighed on the big banks as they reported fourthquarter earnings this month as a rally in the sector in 2021 turned mixed in the current year despite positive loan growth while shares of bank of america corp bac  wells fargo  co wfc  citigroup c and morgan stanley ms have gained thus far in 2022 shares of dow components goldman sachs group inc gs and jpmorgan chase co jpm remained in the red down 73 and 62 respectively as of monday’s close by comparison the sp 500 index spx is down 53 so far in 2022 the dow jones industrial average djia has lost about 33 and the spdr sp bank exchangetraded fund kbe has gained 09 goldman sachs has been lagging since ceo david solomon warned rising inflation could impact its client base of the group wells fargo is the leader with a gain of 121 so far in 2022 as the bank worked to put some of its regulatory woes behind it and said it expects its 2022 net interest income to grow by 8 to nearly 39 billion ahead of the wall street expectation of about 37 billion see wells fargo outshines jpmorgan as big banks kick off the fourthquarter earnings season chris marinac director of research for janney montgomery scott said the big banks have been more forthcoming this year on challenges related to spending on personnel and technology after being more “coy” about these issues in the past “it’s a competitive environment for hiring people” marinac told marketwatch “banks want to be competitive whether it’s the teller line at the branch or their most productive traders or lenders in the commercial team they feel like if they’re not it’ll result in turnover and attrition” this quarter the banks successfully communicated to wall street that they face “inflation and increases in expenses but they’ll make it up as the year goes on” marinac said during 2021 banks transitioned from surviving the pandemic by ramping up their online wares and back office technology but more spending for new technology is coming in 2022 and 2023 the banks said “those comments challenged guidance for expenses those have been higher and surprising people” marinac said “but you have to spend the money now to realize greater revenue and cost savings later” uncertainty around interest rate hikes have also weighed on banks which tend to benefit when rates go up “what you have now is uncertainty about tightening and shrinking the balance sheet by the fed” he said “people have hit the sidelines again and rates have pulled back the banks are caught in the middle they would enjoy a steeper yield curve but until that happens it’s all semantics we’re going to have this tug of war until we have official tightening” see fed preparing for more than four rate hikes this year economists say also read fed’s george calls for sharp reduction in size of bank’s 89 trillion balance sheet of the big banks marinac said bank of america bac stood out from the pack for posting fourthquarter commercial loan growth of 55 billion or about 6 from the previous quarter “bac is a big tanker and they’re coming back to where they were before the pandemic they had an impressive fourth quarter” he said jefferies analyst ken usdin said large banks collectively posted better loan growth of about 3 quarteroverquarter strong deposits softer fees and higher costs “revision trends are tricky given varying expectations for rate hikes” usdin said in a jan 25 research note “guidance for 2022 includes improving net interest income rising expenses stable credit and fewer buybacks” costs in 2022 will be impacted by inflation though positive operating leverage is still possible assuming that the forward curve plays out usdin said on the plus side credit quality remains “pristine” with median net chargeoffs of 15 basis points in the fourth quarter he said among the megabanks bank of america morgan stanley and wells fargo drew the most positive revisions in analyst earnings estimates in january while jpmorgan lagged behind since dec 31 bank of america has drawn nine estimate increases three neutral or unchanged views and four estimate cuts according to factset data analysts currently expect firstquarter earnings of 78 cents a share up a penny from their collective view on dec 31 the bank reported fourthquarter earnings per share that beat expectations on jan 19  wells fargo has drawn 14 earnings boosts in the past month and four earnings view reductions out of the 20 analysts surveyed by factset analysts currently expect the bank to earn 83 cents a share in the first quarter up from the forecast of 78 cents a share on dec 31 jpmorgan chase has drawn estimate reductions from 17 of the 18 analysts surveyed and no profit view hikes analysts currently forecast firstquarter earnings of 279 a share for jpmorgan down from their projection of 295 a share on dec 31 of the 18 analysts submitting earnings estimates on goldman sachs nine have raised their estimates year to date and eight have lowered them on average analysts expect goldman to earn 1059 a share in the first quarter down from 1066 a share on dec 31 of morgan stanley’s analyst earnings estimates 10 were increased and six were lowered analysts currently expect morgan stanley to earn 197 a share in the first quarter up from 194 a share on dec 31 citigroup drew downward earnings revisions from 11 of the 18 analysts who submitted estimates while five have increased their estimates on average analysts expect citi to post firstquarter earnings of 205 a share down from 214 a share on dec 31 also read these 14 bank stocks are in the best position to benefit from rising interest rates