US close: Major indices trade higher following bank earnings

dl nyse new york stock exchange wall st street city finance dow jones nasdaq sp finance dollar dollars us usa united states of america 2 — New York Stock ExchangeSharecast photo / Josh White

Wall Street stocks closed higher on Friday as market participants digested more bank earnings.

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 2.15% at 31,288.26, while the S&P 500 was 1.92% firmer at 3,863.16 and the Nasdaq Composite saw out the session 1.79% stronger at 11,452.42.

The Dow closed 658.09 points higher on Friday, easily reclaiming losses recorded in the previous session.

Earnings were in focus again on Friday, with results on tap from a number of the nation's biggest banks.

BlackRock reported a larger-than-expected drop in quarterly profits as fee income shrank throughout the period, while Bank of New York Mellon posted quarterly revenues of $4.3bn, beating estimates by $130.0m, and an earnings per share miss of $1.03.

Wells Fargo delivered a second-quarter net income of $3.1bn, down from $6.04bn a year earlier, on $17.02bn in revenue, down from $20.27bn at the same time twelve months prior, while US Bancorp reported a net income of $1.5bn and record net revenue of $6.0bn.

Citigroup topped estimates with its earnings as the bank benefitted from rising interest rates throughout the quarter.

Outside of the banks, United Health raised full-year profit forecasts for a second straight quarter on the back of strong sales at its Optum healthcare services unit.

On the macro front, retail sales jumped 1% month-on-month in June, according to the Census Bureau, ahead of forecasts for a print of 0.8% and recovering from a downwardly revised 0.1% decline in May.

Elsewhere, US industrial production increased 4.20% year-on-year in June, the smallest annual gain since January, according to the Federal Reserve, following a downwardly revised 4.8% rise in May.

Still on data, business inventories rose 1.4% month-on-month in May, according to the Census Bureau, accelerating from an upwardly revised 1.3% gain in April and slightly above market expectations for a print of 1.3%.

Finally, a preliminary reading of the University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index increased to 51.1 in July, up from a record low of 50 in June to beat market forecasts of 49.9.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com

Dow Jones - Risers

Unitedhealth Group Inc. (UNH) $529.75 5.44%
JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) $112.95 4.58%
American Express Co. (AXP) $142.48 4.40%
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) $293.87 4.36%
Salesforce.Com Inc. (CRM) $167.32 3.94%
Walt Disney Co. (DIS) $95.20 3.66%
Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (WBA) $38.03 3.17%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $38.62 2.41%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $173.38 2.02%
Visa Inc. (V) $210.04 2.01%