US open: Stocks lower as bank earnings come into focus

dl wall street st new york city nyc nyse stock exchange ny dow jones nasdaq sp finance us usa united states of america — Wall StreetSharecast photo / Josh White

Wall Street stocks were firmly in the red early on Friday as market focus turned to the beginning of Q1 earnings season.

As of 1515 BST, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.78% at 38,158.39, while the S&P 500 lost 0.82% to 5,156.24 and the Nasdaq Composite came out the gate 0.98% weaker at 16,281.83.

The Dow opened just 300.69 points lower on Friday after the release of yet another key inflation report a day earlier seemed to make little impact on sentiment.

Friday's primary focus will be on corporate results from a number of big banks, with BlackRock shares were up after the asset manager posted better-than-expected first-quarter figures as adjusted earnings per share came to $9.81 and revenues hit $4.73bn, while JPMorgan Chase reported a 6% jump in first-quarter profit on Friday as net income rose to $13.4bn from $12.6bn, net revenues were up 9% to $41.9bn and net interest income rose 11% to $23.2bn.

Wells Fargo surpassed Wall Street expectations for first-quarter earnings despite a decrease in net interest income, while Citigroup topped first-quarter revenue estimates thanks to a batter-than-expected investment banking performance.

On the macro front, the cost in the US of goods purchased overseas rose by a tad more than expected last month. According to the Department of Labor, in seasonally adjusted terms, the country's import price index increased at a month-on-month pace of 0.4%. Fuel imports accounted for nearly the entire gain, jumping by 4.7%, while non-food import costs edged up by only 0.1%. Export prices, meanwhile, were up by 0.3% on the month, despite a 0.7% fall in agricultural goods exports.

On another note, a preliminary reading of the University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index fell to 77.9 in April, down from 79.4 in March, well below expectations for a print of 79, with both the current conditions and expectations declining.

Elsewhere, Federal Reserve bankers Jeffrey Schmid, Raphael Bostic and Mary Daly will all deliver speeches throughout the course of the day.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com

Dow Jones - Risers

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