First performance after regulatory "easing": Wells Fargo's mid-term return rate points to 18%, stock price surges 7% to reach a nearly one-year high

According to Zhitong Finance APP, following the regulatory agency's removal of the asset cap on Wells Fargo (WFC.US), the bank has made a significant update to its mid-term profitability targets for the first time, leading to a sharp surge in its stock price. On Tuesday, Wells Fargo's stock price rose by 7.1%, marking the largest single-day increase since November 6 of last year. On November 6, last year, Donald Trump was elected President of the United States, and the market anticipated that his policies would relax regulations and boost the economy, resulting in a general rise in financial stocks. The surge in stock price on Tuesday made Wells Fargo the top-performing component of the KBW Bank Index (an important index tracking the performance of the banking industry) for the day. Over the past month, the bank's stock price increase was second only to Comerica Bank, which saw its stock price driven up by acquisition news, as it plans to be acquired by Fifth Third Bank, marking the largest bank deal of 2025. Scott Seifert, an analyst at Piper Sandler, stated in a report to clients: "In addition to the better-than-expected earnings, the core signal is that Wells Fargo has clearly taken control." On Tuesday, Wells Fargo raised its tangible common equity return (ROTCE) target from the current 15% to 17%-18%. This metric is used to measure the efficiency with which banks generate earnings available to shareholders and reflects the pace of earnings growth and corresponding costs. As the fourth-largest lending institution in the United States, Wells Fargo's total assets surpassed $2 trillion for the first time at the end of September. In June of this year, the Federal Reserve lifted a regulatory penalty that had previously restricted Wells Fargo's asset size to not exceed $1.95 trillion as of the end of 2017. Since the Federal Reserve implemented the asset cap, Wells Fargo's stock performance has lagged behind almost all of its five major banking peers. Wells Fargo's Chief Financial Officer Mike Santomassimo stated in an interview on Tuesday afternoon that the bank plans to repurchase an amount of stock in the last three months of this year that is roughly equivalent to that of the third quarter. The San Francisco-based bank repurchased $6.1 billion of common stock during the July-September (third quarter) period this year