US open: Stocks pick up early gains as Q1 earnings begin to roll in

Wall Street stocks were in the green early on Wednesday as market participants thumbed through some strong earnings from several of the nation's largest banks.

As of 1520 BST, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.52% at 33,853.98, while the S&P 500 was 0.15% firmer at 4,147.71 and the Nasdaq Composite came out the gate 0.14% stronger at 14,015.08.

The Dow opened 176.71 points higher on Wednesday, reversing losses recorded in the previous session after the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control recommended the use of Johnson & Johnson's single-dose Covid-19 vaccine be temporarily halted after six people out of the 7.0m who received the jab developed blood clots.

Corporate earnings were firmly in focus on Wednesday, with JPMorgan reporting an $11.4bn jump in first-quarter profit to $14.3bn, attributing the rise partly to an "improving economy" and the fact it was able to release billions of dollars from its loan-loss reserves.

Goldman Sachs posted a huge jump in first-quarter profits from $1.12bn to $6.84bn, with the group taking advantage of record levels of dealmaking activity throughout the period, while Wells Fargo also said that both revenues and net income had grown in the three months ended 31 March.

On the macro front, import prices increased more than predicted last month, according to the Labor Department, which said import prices rose 1.2% on the prior month in March, while export prices rose 2.1% month-on-month. Prices were lifted by heightened costs for petroleum products and tight supply chains.

Still to come, the Federal Reserve's Beige Book will be released at 1900 BST.

Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell will speak at 1700 BST, while presidents John Williams, Richard Clarida, Raphael Bostic and Robert Kaplan will also all deliver comments throughout the course of the day.

Coinbase was also drawing an amount of investor attention early in the session, with the company's stock market debut viewed as a major milestone for the industry, while Pfizer was in the red despite the drugmaker saying it could deliver 10% more vaccine doses to the US by the end of May than it had previously expected.