(Reuters) -Wall Street’s main stock indexes eyed a mixed open on Friday as investors assessed earnings from big U.S. banks, while Treasury yields eased following a spike in the previous session.
JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM) rose 1.1% in premarket trading after beating expectations for third-quarter profit as a tighter monetary policy and the acquisition of failed First Republic Bank (OTC:FRCB) drove the lender’s interest income to a record high.
Wells Fargo gained 2.5% after beating third-quarter profit estimates, while Citigroup (NYSE:C) rose 2.3% after the bank said its quarterly profit was broadly steady as it benefited from rising interest payments and surging investment banking fees.
“The market will likely breathe a sigh of relief as the solid Citi numbers chime with the good results from JPMorgan and Wells Fargo too, and will go some way toward suggesting that the worst of the banking crisis is now over,” said Stuart Cole, chief macro economist, at Equiti Capital.
“But next year may prove to be more difficult, when the Fed is expected to start cutting rates again and there are still fears remaining over whether the U.S. will avoid a period of negative growth.”
Asset manager BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) dipped 1.8% after posting a sharp drop in net inflows in the third quarter.
Options traders are bracing for larger-than-usual post-earnings stock price swings for some U.S. banks, despite signs of cooling volatility in broader markets, options data showed.
UnitedHealth (NYSE:UNH) advanced 1.2% after beating third-quarter profit estimates, helped by a lower-than-feared rise in medical costs at the company’s health insurance unit.
Keeping a lid on gains, megacap stocks Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN), Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA), Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) and Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) dipped between 0.3% and 0.8%.
U.S. stocks registered their first decline in five days on Thursday as yields rose after consumer inflation data and weak demand in the auction of U.S. 30-year bonds.
Yields, however, eased on Friday, and the three main U.S. stock indexes were on track to register gains for the week.
Investors will look out for comments from Philadelphia Fed President Patrick Harker later in the day.
A preliminary estimate of the University of Michigan’s October consumer sentiment index is due at 10 a.m. ET.
At 8:23 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 30 points, or 0.09%, S&P 500 e-minis were down 2.75 points, or 0.06%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 48.25 points, or 0.32%.
Investors also kept an eye on the conflict in Israel. The country’s military has called for all civilians of Gaza City, more than 1 million people, to relocate south within 24 hours, as it amassed tanks ahead of an expected ground invasion after a devastating attack by the militant group Hamas.
Energy companies Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM), Chevron (NYSE:CVX), Callon (NYSE:CPE) Petroleum and Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) rose between 1.3% and 3.0%, tracking a near 4% jump in crude oil prices.
Dollar General (NYSE:DG) added 7.2% after the discount store retailer brought back former CEO Todd Vasos to replace Chief Executive Jeffery Owen.
Boeing (NYSE:BA) lost 2.4% after the planemaker and Spirit AeroSystems (NYSE:SPR) expanded the scope of their ongoing inspections of a production defect affecting 737 Max 8 aircraft. Spirit’s shares were down 4.7%.
Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) fell 1.8% on a report Wolfe Research downgraded the streaming service’s shares to “peer perform”.
Source: Economy - investing.com
