Fed Says No To Largest Bank (NYSE: BAC), (NYSE: JPM), (NYSE: WFC), (NYSE: C)

The US government has declined approval for Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), America's largest bank by assets to increase their dividend in the second half of the year. Other US Banks including JP Morgan Chase (NYSE: JPM), Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) and Citigroup (NYSE: C) have already raised their dividend. Citigroup, which was seen as the most troubled of the largest banks was able to get a 1-cent per share dividend and approve a reverse stock split. The fed is likely requiring BAC to have a higher capital standard as it is the largest bank in the country. Investors may have to wait slightly longer for the unfavored bank to increase its once bountiful dividend. BAC has been paying 1-cent par share since 2009. To read the premium BAC report click here.

Bank Shares Lead the Way: BAC, WFC, JPM, C

Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) is leading the banking sector higher today on much higher than average volume. The stock is currently up more than 5%.

Citigroup (NYSE: C) is up just over 1% while JP Morgan (NYSE: JPM) and Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) are up 1.25% and 1.15% respectively.

These stocks have all faced high selling pressures as the year 2010 comes to an end. The spike in buying may set the tone for the new year.

Top Traded Stocks of the Day: CSCO, C, SPY, BAC, F

The stock with the highest trading volume of the day was Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) with 553 million shares traded. Cisco took a large 16% hit today as investors were unimpressed with the poor results from the quarterly report. Citigroup (NYSE: C) usually the top traded stock of the day came in second today with 381 million shares traded. The SPDR S&P 500 ETF (NYSE: SPY) was next followed by Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) and Ford Motor Corp (NYSE: F). Each stock had 158 million, 130 million, and 94 million shares traded respectively.