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JPMorgan profit surges 52% on robust consumer business
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Wells Fargo, Citi profits climb on higher interest income
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BlackRock profit beats on robust inflows
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Dow up 0.02%, S&P climbs 0.07%, Nasdaq off 0.19%
(Updates to market open)
By Ankika Biswas and Sruthi Shankar
April 14 (Reuters) - U.S. stock indexes were mixed on
Friday morning as weak retail sales data for March suggested the
economy was losing steam, although upbeat earnings from a trio
of big banks helped assuage fears of further stress in the
sector.
JPMorgan Chase & Co , Citigroup Inc and Wells
Fargo & Co beat analysts' estimates for first-quarter
profit, signaling resilience through the banking crisis in
March. Their shares rose between 1.2% and 6.2%.
The S&P 500 banks index surged 3.3% to a one-month
high, while the KBW Regional Banking index rose 0.8%.
"JPM is one of those household names in a sector that we
were the most concerned about reporting better-than-expected
earnings and that is certainly putting a bid in the stock and a
bid in the market," said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at B
Riley Wealth in Boston.
Dampening the mood, however, data showed retail sales fell more than expected in March as consumers cut back on purchases of motor vehicles and other big-ticket items, raising fears of an economic slowdown. "The retail sales are kind of a disappointment," said Robert Pavlik, senior portfolio manager at Dakota Wealth. "The report indicates that the economy may actually slow more to the point where we have to start worrying about a recession more than just inflation." The S&P 500 and the Dow closed at almost two-month highs on Thursday as data showed cooling inflation and a loosening labor market, fueling optimism that the Federal Reserve could be nearing the end of its aggressive interest rate-hike cycle. Following Friday's retail sales data, traders stuck to bets the U.S. central bank will raise rates by another 25 basis points in May. Despite a year of aggressive rate increases, U.S. central bankers "haven't made much progress" in returning inflation to their 2% target and need to move interest rates higher still, Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller
said .
Among other earnings-driven moves, BlackRock Inc rose 2.4% after the world's largest asset manager beat analysts' estimates for quarterly profit as investors continued to pour money in its various funds. At 9:37 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 7.95 points, or 0.02%, at 34,037.64, the S&P 500 was up 3.06 points, or 0.07%, at 4,149.28, and the Nasdaq Composite was down 22.83 points, or 0.19%, at 12,143.45. Boeing Co fell 6.1% after the planemaker halted deliveries of some 737 MAXs due to a supplier quality problem by Spirit AeroSystems . Spirit AeroSystems' shares tumbled 18.5%. Lucid Group Inc dropped 7.5% after the luxury electric-car maker reported first-quarter production and delivery figures that were lower than the preceding three months. Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.48-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and 1.07-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq. The S&P index recorded six new 52-week highs and no new low, while the Nasdaq recorded 14 new highs and 25 new lows. <^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Bank stocks lag S&P 500 this year ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^> (Reporting by Sruthi Shankar, Ankika Biswas and Bansari Mayur Kamdar in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta and Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)
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