US close: Stocks weaker as bank earnings roll in mixed

Wall Street stocks finished lower on Thursday, as market participants digested quarterly earnings from a number of the country's largest banks.

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.33% at 34,451.23, the S&P 500 lost 1.21% to 4,392.59, and the Nasdaq Composite was off 2.14% at 13,351.08.

The Dow closed 113.36 points lower on Thursday, reversing some of the gains recorded on Wednesday after another red-hot inflation report.

“From JPMorgan yesterday we pushed on to earnings from Goldman Sachs and others,” said IG chief market analyst Chris Beauchamp.

“Once again the cautious outlook features heavily, as companies rein in activity thanks to the uncertain economic outlook.

“So far earnings season has been uninspiring for investors, but it doesn’t look like this will change as the weeks go on.

“Earnings from United Health have helped the Dow, but the broader day in US markets remains dominated by losses.”

On the macro front, Americans continued spending at a brisk pace last month, albeit largely due to the impact of higher gasoline prices.

In seasonally-adjusted terms, US retail sales volumes increased at a 0.5% month-on-month pace to reach $665.73bn, according to the Census Bureau.

Elsewhere, Americans filed new claims for unemployment benefits at an elevated clip in the seven days ended 9 April, according to the Labor Department.

Initial jobless claims rose by 18,000 to 185,000, above market expectations for a print of 171,000 but generally close to the previous week's revised print of 167,000 - the lowest since 1968.

Still on data, a preliminary reading of the University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index revealed consumer confidence in the United States increased to 65.70 points in April, up from 59.40 points in March.

Finally, business inventories rose 1.5% month-on-month in February, accelerating from the prior month's upwardly revised pace of 1.3% to beat market expectations, according to the Census Bureau.

Corporate earnings were the flavour du jour on Thursday, with Citigroup up 1.56% after it beat first-quarter profit and revenue expectations, benefitting from surging volatility amid the Ukraine war.

Morgan Stanley managed gains of 0.75% after it beat profit estimates on stronger than expected trading and mergers and acquisitions performances.

On the downside, Goldman Sachs lost 0.1% despite flying past analysts' estimates for first-quarter earnings per share, at $10.76 each.

Wells Fargo tumbled 4.51% after its first-quarter revenues that failed to meet Wall Street expectations, as it also warned that future credit losses looked set to increase.

In other corporate news, Tesla CEO Elon Musk made a $43.0bn hostile takeover bid for social media behemoth Twitter.

According to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Musk offered $54.30 a share, which is a 54% premium to the closing share price on 28 January, before he started buying up shares.

Tesla ended the day down 3.66%, and Twitter was 1.68% weaker.

Dow Jones - Risers

Nike Inc. (NKE) $133.43 4.68%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $227.70 4.37%
Dow Chemical Co. (DOW) $65.49 2.07%
Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $86.91 0.91%
American Express Co. (AXP) $181.32 0.87%
Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (WBA) $44.81 0.47%
Coca-Cola Co. (KO) $65.03 0.45%
International Business Machines Corporation (CDI) (IBM) $126.58 0.33%
Travelers Company Inc. (TRV) $184.24 0.29%
Amgen Inc. (AMGN) $254.02 0.20%

Dow Jones - Fallers

Salesforce.Com Inc. (CRM) $189.41 -3.22%
Apple Inc. (AAPL) $165.29 -3.00%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $45.67 -2.85%
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $279.83 -2.71%
Home Depot Inc. (HD) $305.17 -1.90%
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $51.17 -1.88%
Walt Disney Co. (DIS) $130.47 -1.42%
JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) $126.12 -0.93%
3M Co. (MMM) $147.38 -0.86%
Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) $53.81 -0.57%

S&P 500 - Risers

Nike Inc. (NKE) $133.43 4.68%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $227.70 4.37%
US Bancorp (USB) $52.74 4.15%
Dish Network Corp. (DISH) $33.19 3.30%
Delta Airlines Inc. (DAL) $42.36 3.27%
National Oilwell Varco Inc. (NOV) $20.56 3.11%
Marriott International - Class A (MAR) $180.51 2.83%
Molson Coors Beverage Co. Class B (TAP) $55.61 2.43%
TripAdvisor Inc. (TRIP) $26.83 2.40%
Fluor Corp. (FLR) $30.00 2.28%

S&P 500 - Fallers

State Street Corp. (STT) $75.81 -8.50%
W.W. Grainger Inc. (GWW) $491.50 -6.77%
Fastenal Co. (FAST) $56.01 -5.04%
Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) $93.06 -4.79%
F5 Inc. (FFIV) $199.53 -4.58%
Ansys Inc. (ANSS) $282.33 -4.55%
Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC) $46.35 -4.51%
KLA-Tencor Corp. (KLAC) $321.48 -4.47%
Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) $212.58 -4.26%
Synopsys Inc. (SNPS) $294.77 -3.90%

Nasdaq 100 - Risers

Dish Network Corp. (DISH) $33.19 3.30%
Marriott International - Class A (MAR) $180.51 2.83%
Expedia Group Inc. (EXPE) $191.55 2.25%
Hasbro Inc (HAS) $85.22 1.69%
Trip.com Group Limited (TCOM) $23.14 1.40%
Dollar Tree Inc (DLTR) $173.05 1.16%
Kraft Heinz Co. (KHC) $42.29 0.69%
DENTSPLY Sirona Inc. (XRAY) $49.07 0.66%
Fiserv Inc. (FISV) $99.67 0.60%
PACCAR Inc. (PCAR) $83.71 0.56%

Nasdaq 100 - Fallers

Mercadolibre Inc. (MELI) $1,060.34 -6.64%
Fastenal Co. (FAST) $56.01 -5.04%
KLA-Tencor Corp. (KLAC) $321.48 -4.47%
Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) $212.58 -4.26%
Synopsys Inc. (SNPS) $294.77 -3.90%
Cadence Design Systems Inc. (CDNS) $149.80 -3.84%
Baidu Inc. (BIDU) $129.56 -3.79%
Skyworks Solutions Inc. (SWKS) $117.73 -3.79%
Tesla Inc (TSLA) $985.00 -3.66%
Lam Research Corp. (LRCX) $456.16 -3.48%