While you were sleeping: JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup fall

Friday 13th October 2017

Wall Street slipped, after touching record highs earlier in the day, as shares of JPMorgan Chase and those of Citigroup fell after the US banks posted quarterly earnings.

Shares of JPMorgan Chase traded 0.8 percent weaker as of 2.35pm in New York, while those of Citigroup were 2.5 percent lower, even as banks beat analysts’ expectations.

“The results were solid but not exceptional,” Morningstar analyst Jim Sinegal said about JPMorgan Chase, according to Reuters.

Shares of Bank of America and Wells Fargo, which are both slated to report their latest earnings on Friday, also declined, down 1.4 percent and 0.7 percent respectively.

"The risk is similar to the second quarter in that stocks are being priced for perfection,” Bryan Reilly, senior investment analyst at CIBC Atlantic Trust, told Reuters. “But the strength in the global economy has accelerated and a weakening dollar should set up companies for very healthy beats in Q3.”

In 2.35pm trading in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.08 percent, while the Nasdaq Composite Index inched 0.04 percent lower. In 2.20pm trading, the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index eased 0.06 percent.

Earlier in the day the Dow touched a record high of 22,884.82, while the S&P 500 touched a record high 2,555.33 and the Nasdaq reached a record 6,613.50.

The Dow fell as declines in shares of Walt Disney and those of Nike, recently down 1.5 percent and 1.1 percent respectively, outweighed gains in shares of Microsoft and those of United Technologies, recently up 0.9 percent and 0.8 percent respectively.

Shares of AT&T dropped, down 5.8 percent as of 3.05pm in New York, after the owner of DirecTV said it lost 90,000 US video subscribers in the quarter.

“It should be clear that DirecTV, like all of its cable peers, is suffering from the ravages of cord-cutting,” Craig Moffett, analyst at MoffettNathanson, told Reuters. “It is reasonable to expect a weak quarter for the whole pay-TV industry.”

Energy stocks declined with the price of oil amid concern about increased US production at a time the world’s major oil producers are trying to curb output.

In the latest US economic data, a Labour Department report showed its producer price index for final demand climbed 0.4 percent in September, following a 0.2 percent increase in August.

Investors will scrutinise reports on the consumer price index and retail sales, both due on Friday, to gauge the outlook for inflation and the odds of a third interest rate increase by the Federal Reserve before the end of the year.

In Europe, the Stoxx 600 Index ended the day little changed from the previous close. France’s CAC 40 Index inched 0.03 percent lower.

Germany’s DAX Index rose 0.1 percent, while the UK’s FTSE 100 Index added 0.3 percent.

(BusinessDesk)

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