Why Bank of America Boomed This Week

There's little doubt it was a banner week for Bank of America (NYSE: BAC  ) . Two and half hours into the last day of trading, the share price is up 3.64% over the last five days. With nothing unusual going on with the bank itself, can all of this be chalked up to the so-called Tepper rally?

Big banks and market roundup
Before we dive into that bunny hole, here's a quick look at what B of A's peers were up to this week:

Citigroup (NYSE: C  ) is up a whopping 5.94%. JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM  ) is up an even more whopping 6.28%. Even the normally slower-moving Wells Fargo is up a big 4.58%.

And here's a quick glance at the week's activity for the market's three major indices:

The broader S&P 500 is up 1.70%. The narrower Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 1.36%. And the Nasdaq Composite is up 1.43%.

Thanks for the shout-out, Mr. Tepper
The Tepper rally is named after David Tepper: president and founder of the enormously successful hedge fund, Appaloosa Management. On Tuesday, he called out Citi and JPMorgan as bank stocks he was bullish on. As you can see from the numbers above, share prices for both shot up, and the rest of the Big Four may have simply come along for the ride.

Of course, it was a big week for the markets overall. With the S&P 500 hitting another record high, Wall Street is firing on all cylinders. Even suggestions from San Francisco Federal Reserve Governor John Williams that the central bank could begin winding down its monthly bond-buying this year hasn't much affected bullish sentiment.

And I think it's always a happy week for B of A investors when there's no breaking news of regulatory action or crisis-related settlements: B of A investors must be positively tickled that JPMorgan and CEO Jamie Dimon are currently in the media spotlight, and therefore taking some of the heat off of B of A.

But always remember that most of the short-term moves in your favorite stocks can be chalked up to market noise: things that have little to do with what's going on at a particular company. If the markets are up, chances are your stocks are going to be up. If the markets are down, chances are your stocks will be down.

This is why we at The Motley Fool emphasize a long-term view toward investing: Tune out the market noise and tune into the fundamentals of the companies you hold positions in. Excessive ticker checking can lead to excessive trading, which costs money and can hurt your portfolio's performance in the long run. Check in on share prices once a month, or even once a quarter, and leave the obsessive ticker checking to the day traders. Your portfolio will thank you, even if your broker won't. 

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