Big banks held up well in 2023, even though the Federal Reserve continued to raise interest rates at a fast clip. Reports on fourth-quarter bank earnings, which start this week, should show how the banks’ customers fared in the harsher rate environment.  

So far, households have continued to spend and borrow, despite higher borrowing costs, and businesses have hired at a healthy pace. The biggest banks have reaped the rewards. JPMorgan, Wells Fargo and Bank of America turned in strong profit growth for the first three quarters of last year—even after the panicky weeks starting last March when a handful of their smaller peers failed.