Bank of America shares close lower on Friday, holding’s broker-dealer affiliate ordered to pay $2.5 million fine

Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Inc, Bank of Americas broker-dealer affiliate, was reportedly ordered by the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission to pay a $2.5 million fine yesterday in relation with record-keeping violations. Additionally, the unit was found to have not conducted proper supervision on its traders in 2010.

Bank of America shares closed lower for the first time in the past six trading sessions on Friday. The stock went down 0.56% ($0.14) to $25.02, after touching an intraday low at $24.85, or a price level not seen since September 20th ($24.67). In the week ended on September 24th the shares of the financial holding company added 2.63% to their market value compared to a week ago, which marked a second consecutive period of gains. The stock has pared its advance to 4.73% so far during the current month, following a 0.95% slump in August. The latter has been a second consecutive monthly loss and also the largest one since May. For the entire past year, Bank of America shares gained 31.31%. The stock has risen 13.21% so far in 2017.

The units policies were not sufficient in order to make sure its traders kept accurate records for futures block trades, the CFTC said.

According to the US regulatory authority, the traders “made misleading statements and failed to acknowledge that they did in fact trade ahead of futures block trades in some instances”.

The regulator also noted that Merrill Lynch’s business operations team had conducted trading analysis, which revealed some traders were taking action ahead of block trades. However, the analysis never reached the companys compliance and legal staff.

According to CNN Money, the 29 analysts, offering 12-month forecasts regarding Bank of America’s stock price, have a median target of $27.00, with a high estimate of $32.00 and a low estimate of $20.00. The median estimate is a 7.91% surge compared to the closing price of $25.02 on September 22nd.

The same media also reported that 18 out of 31 surveyed investment analysts had rated Bank of America’s stock as “Buy”, while 7 – as “Hold”. On the other hand, 1 analyst had recommended selling the stock.

Daily and Weekly Pivot Levels

With the help of the Camarilla calculation method, Mondays levels of importance for the Bank of America stock are presented as follows:

R1 – $25.04
R2 – $25.06
R3 (Range Resistance – Sell) – $25.08
R4 (Long Breakout) – $25.14
R5 (Breakout Target 1) – $25.20
R6 (Breakout Target 2) – $25.23

S1 – $25.00
S2 – $24.98
S3 (Range Support – Buy) – $24.96
S4 (Short Breakout) – $24.90
S5 (Breakout Target 1) – $24.84
S6 (Breakout Target 2) – $24.81

By using the traditional method of calculation, the weekly levels of importance for Bank of America Corporation (BAC) are presented as follows:

Central Pivot Point – $24.89
R1 – $25.41
R2 – $25.79
R3 – $26.31
R4 – $26.82

S1 – $24.51
S2 – $23.99
S3 – $23.61
S4 – $23.22