New York, May 31, 2026, 11:04 (EDT)
- Huntington ended Friday at $16.36, gaining 1.49%. Volume was about 40.5 million shares.
- The stock rose roughly 2.8% for the holiday-shortened week.
- Investors are looking to U.S. jobs data out next, and to a Huntington investor event set for June 9.
Huntington Bancshares surged on Friday, closing out the week with a strong move higher. The stock led regional banks, helped by heavier trading volume as investors shrugged off a slow news stretch going into the weekend.
Shares of the Columbus, Ohio-based lender ended Friday at $16.36, up 1.49% for a second day of gains. Volume hit 40.5 million shares, well above the 50-day average of about 22.0 million. The S&P 500 rose 0.22%. The Dow advanced 0.72%.
The move was notable as it landed at the end of a four-day week. U.S. exchanges shut down Monday, May 25, for Memorial Day, Nasdaq’s 2026 holiday schedule shows.
Huntington shares climbed from $15.92 on May 22 to $16.36 by May 29, up about 2.8% on the week. The stock didn’t move much Tuesday to Thursday, then picked up on Friday.
Jobs data, not Huntington news, is in focus this week. The May employment report lands Friday, June 5. A Reuters poll sees nonfarm payrolls up by 85,000, with the jobless rate at 4.3%. Edward Jones’s Angelo Kourkafas said if payrolls top 150,000, worries about “overheating” could send stocks down and Treasury yields up. Reuters
Banks watch this closely. Higher yields may lift lending income, but they also push up funding costs, cut into loan demand, and squeeze credit quality.
KeyCorp closed at $21.33 Friday, up on the day. Fifth Third added to $49.93 while Citizens Financial dropped to $62.26. The SPDR S&P Regional Banking ETF, which follows regional banks, ended barely higher, up 0.1% at $69.61. Huntington’s 1.5% gain stood out compared to the rest.
Huntington set its calendar too. The company said May 26 that CFO Zach Wasserman and Consumer and Regional Banking President Brant Standridge will talk at the Morgan Stanley U.S. Financials Conference on June 9. The agenda: business trends, financials, strategy.
Huntington said its Chairman and CEO Steve Steinour is on the schedule for the May 28 Sanford Bernstein Strategic Decisions Conference, with the same general topics as before. The bank, which says it has $285 billion in assets and over 1,400 branches across 21 states, made the announcement.
Huntington’s stock has found support on the back of a bigger balance sheet, higher lending income, and its latest deals in Texas and the South. First-quarter net interest income came in at $1.89 billion, up 33% from last year. “Now it is the time to grow organically,” CEO Steinour told Reuters after April results. Reuters
Huntington’s first-quarter statement struck a more cautious tone in spots. The company said it finished the Veritex systems conversion back in January and expects to wrap Cadence integration in the second quarter. Huntington also signed off on a $3 billion buyback plan, letting the company buy its own shares. CEO Steinour said credit is “strong,” but nonperforming assets ticked up to 0.72% of period-end assets, with the credit loss allowance also higher, mostly due to Cadence. Huntington Bancshares Incorporated
But things could flip. A strong jobs report might push yields up and hit bank stocks in general. A soft report could bring fresh fears about loan growth and credit. Huntington still needs to finish the Cadence conversion and keep customers on board while watching expenses. Big volume on Friday is a plus for bulls, but it’s not enough unless buyers are back on Monday.
So far, Huntington is still trading like a regional-bank name, with the market seeing some near-term catalysts and a discount to where shares sat in February. The big question next is June. That’s when investors will look to see if the bank can use its larger footprint to drive growth and not just boost the size of its balance sheet.
