Last week, Zions Bancorp announced a $50 million charge-off tied to two commercial and industrial loans issued through its California Bank & Trust unit. The bank cited apparent misrepresentations and contractual defaults by the borrowers and initiated legal action. The disclosure, made on October 15, 2025, led to an 11–13% drop in Zions’ stock and contributed to a broader sell-off across U.S. regional bank equities.
At the same time, Western Alliance Bancorporation reported related credit exposure and a lawsuit involving a borrower allegedly tied to the same group connected to Zions’ troubled loans. Separately, Fifth Third Bancorp disclosed a $178 million charge tied to the bankruptcy of subprime auto lender Tricolor Holdings. These developments heightened investor concerns about deteriorating credit quality in multiple lending sectors.
Together, the announcements raised broader market fears about the stability of regional banks, especially those with exposure to commercial real estate and private credit. The events have triggered renewed scrutiny of credit risk across the industry, as markets brace for further earnings reports from mid-sized and regional lenders.
Zions Bancorp is scheduled to report Q3 2025 earnings after the market close on October 20, with an EPS estimate of $1.39 according to Yahoo Finance.
Shares of Zions Bancorp (ZION) have shown technical weakness throughout 2025, trading within a range of $40 to $60 after recovering from the 2023 banking panic that followed the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank. By late 2024, the stock had rallied to a high of $59.28 before pulling back below long-term resistance at $65.45, a level not seen since 2022. In 2025, ZION again declined to $40 before rebounding to $58.12, just shy of the previous high; following its recent disclosure, the stock dropped to a double bottom at $50.60, settling near the midpoint of its trading range.
Support levels appear at $45.83 and $40.69, both originating from the 2022 timeframe. If regional banking sector turmoil deepens, longer-term point & figure trend support is identified between $35.43 and $36.86. Resistance is established at the 3-box reversal level of $51.61, followed by the prior lower top at $59.28. The SIA Banking sector is now pushed down into the Unfavored zone of the SIA Sector Report and as the table above illustrates, the regional banking sector is currently displaying weak relative strength, with ZION and similar names exhibiting low short-term relative weakness compared to other asset classes, as measured by SIA SMAX score. A SMAX reading of 3 out of 10 reflects this underperformance of ZION shares in the near term.
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