JPMorgan losses drag on bank shares, broader market
U.S. stocks slid on Friday, with bank shares leading the way, after JPMorgan Chase & Co reported deep fourth-quarter loan losses that raised concerns about earnings for the pivotal industry.
JPMorgan fell 1.6 percent to $43.98, and other banks, scheduled to start reporting results next week, also fell. Bank of America Corp lost 2.7 percent to $16.37 and Wells Fargo & Co was off 2.8 percent to $28.16.
The logic is, as goes JPMorgan, so goes the rest of the banks, said Matt McCormick, portfolio manager and banking analyst at Bahl & Gaynor Investment Counsel in Cincinnati.
Also weighing on stocks was a survey showing that U.S. consumer sentiment was little changed in early January as worries over income and high unemployment offset news of an improving economy.
The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI> was down 107.77 points, or 1.01 percent, at 10,603.00. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index .SPX> fell 12.64 points, or 1.10 percent, at 1,135.82. The Nasdaq Composite Index .IXIC> shed 25.61 points, or 1.11 percent, at 2,291.17.
Intel Corp, another Dow component and the world's largest chipmaker, late Thursday posted fourth-quarter results that beat Wall Street forecasts. It also gave a bullish margin outlook on higher prices and firm demand for server chips. The stock fell 2 percent to $21.05.
Intel had a great quarter and now people are using the results as an excuse to take some profits since it's up big for the year so far, said Bennett Gaeger, managing director at Stifel Nicolaus in Baltimore.
Data on U.S. consumer prices, also released Friday, showed a modest rise last month while a cold snap lifted industrial output, suggesting the economy was growing but not generating enough inflation to trouble the Federal Reserve.
Office supplies retailers advanced after JPMorgan analysts upgraded both OfficeMax and Staples Inc to overweight from neutral, citing their high correlation to modestly improving labor markets. OfficeMax surged 8.8 percent to $15.06 and Staples was up 1.7 percent at $25.43.
Congressional Democrats closed in on a final deal on a landmark U.S. healthcare overhaul on Friday, but negotiators still must resolve thorny issues on how to pay for the plan, and the structure of the new insurance exchanges created under the bill.
The Morgan Stanley Healthcare Payor index .HMO> rose 0.2 percent, while the S&P Healthcare index .GSPA> lost 0.7 percent.
U.S. stock markets are closed on Monday for the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday.
(Additional reporting by Jonathan Spicer; Editing by Padraic Cassidy)
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