What happened

Shares of Bank of America (BAC 1.70%) were down on Tuesday, falling as much as 6% during the trading day. As of 2:45 p.m. ET, Bank of America was down 5.5%, trading at $32.58.

The major indexes were all down on Tuesday, led by the Nasdaq Composite, which was down 258 points, or 2.3%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 498 points, or 1.5%, and the S&P 500 was off 77 points, or 1.9%, as of 2:45 p.m. ET.

So what

Bank of America was dropping Tuesday on what was an overall down day on U.S. stock markets. The sell-off may have been related, in part, to comments made by some of the leading bankers in the country, including Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan, at a Goldman Sachs financial services conference.

Moynihan said he expects to see negative economic growth in the first part of 2023, but the contraction will be mild. Moynihan said he sees signs that consumer spending is starting to slow, as the Fed's anti-inflationary measures start to take effect, reported Yahoo!.

Moynihan was not the only bank executive to strike a note of caution. Marianne Lake, co-head of the consumer and community bank at JPMorgan Chase, said the "probability of a recession has gone up," reported Yahoo!. JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon echoed that sentiment on a CNBC interview today.

Further, Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon cited "bumpy times ahead" for the global economy, but did not foresee a recession in the U.S.

Now what

The market may have overreacted to the news as there had been expectations for slower growth and even a mild recession in 2023 for some time now and it has been baked into market projections.

As for Bank of America, Moynihan also said borrowing and credit quality "are still in good shape," but deposit balances are starting to come down. But as long as employment rates remain high, deposits should be fine. While investment banking fees are expected to be down 50% to 60%, in line with competitors, trading revenue is expected to be up 10% to 15% this year, Moynihan said at the conference.

Bank of America has benefited from higher interest rates and should be able to navigate a mild recession or economic downturn. The stock is available at a discount and remains a good buy heading into 2023.