If there’s one thing to prepare yourself in 2018, it’s higher volatility. A market this calm is a significant outlier, and it’s appropriate to expect the equity markets to begin bouncing around more at some point in the near future.

As expected, the Fed kept the short-term interest rates steady at 1-1.25% in its two-day FOMC meeting concluded yesterday and laid out the timing of reverse quantitative easing (QE), starting next month.

The downtrend in the benchmark U.S. Treasury yields since mid-March thanks to a dovish Fed rate hike outlook and geopolitical risks is a concern for the banking sector.

One sector that seems poised to benefit from both lighter regulation that the Trump administration promises, as well as the Fed’s path toward higher interest rates is regional banks, due to their simplified, lending-focused business models.

The financial sector has been on a stellar ride this year having gained 5.6% thanks to the dual tailwinds of the Fed’s rate policy and Trump presidency. We discuss some strong reasons for investing in financial ETFs now.

The operating backdrop of the U.S. banking sector has lately turned favorable despite concerns over the financial health of Deutsche Bank and Wells Fargo.

Financial ETFs that have a significant exposure to Wells Fargo were also negatively impacted by the scam and these three are the ones to watch.

The sought-after investment broker expects weakness in the market next year with the S&P 500 predicted to close out 2016 at 2,100. The U.S. index presently trades at 2,088.87, meaning almost no change in gains in the coming 13 months.

Investors should note that the sector gained momentum despite the challenging interest rate backdrop. Since the Fed is likely to hike rates sometime this year, this corner of the market should soar on improving interest rate margins.

The Financials sector ranks ninth out of the ten sectors as detailed in my Sector Rankings for ETFs and Mutual Funds report. It gets my Dangerous rating, which is based on aggregation of ratings of 46 ETFs and 232 mutual funds in the Financials sector as of July 15, 2014.