US open: Stocks mixed as bank earnings roll in

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 mixed early on Friday as market participants digested earnings from some of the country's biggest banks.

As of 1455 GMT, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.62% at 35,888.16, while the S&P 500 was 0.19% weaker at 4,650.32 and the Nasdaq Composite came out the gate 0.22% firmer at 14,840.13.

The Dow Jones opened 225.46 points in the red on Friday, extending losses recorded in the previous session as big tech names were on the slide as investors digested December's producer price index and this week's jobless claims figures.

Friday's primary focus, however, was the beginning of fourth-quarter earnings season, with banking several giants reporting earnings earlier in the day.

Money manager BlackRock posted a jump in fourth-quarter profit on Friday as assets under management hit fresh highs, while US banking behemoth JPMorgan Chase posted record full-year profits on Friday despite revealing fourth-quarter earnings had come in lower year-on-year as a weaker performance in its trading unit somewhat offset a boom in its investment banking division..

Citigroup posted better-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings and revenues despite meagre top-line growth as its fixed-income operations underperformed, while financial services giant Wells Fargo reported fourth-quarter earnings on Friday that easily topped expectations on the Street.

On the macro front, US retail sales unexpectedly slumped in December amid rising prices, according to figures released on Friday by the Commerce Department.

Retail sales fell 1.9% on the month following a 0.2% increase in November. This marked the biggest decline in 10 months and was well short of expectations for a flat reading. Excluding motor vehicles and parts and gasoline stations, retail sales were down 2.5%.

Elsewhere, industrial production fell 0.1% across the US in December after an upwardly revised 0.7% increase in November, according to the Federal Reserve, marking the first decline since September 2021, with manufacturers still struggling with supply chains woes.

Still to come, a preliminary reading of January's consumer sentiment index and November business inventories numbers will both follow at 1500 GMT.

Dow Jones - Risers

Unitedhealth Group Inc. (UNH) $472.26 1.03%
Salesforce.Com Inc. (CRM) $229.53 0.39%
Chevron Corp. (CVX) $127.15 0.28%
Visa Inc. (V) $215.56 0.26%
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $305.18 0.12%
Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $81.40 0.10%
Dowdupont Inc. (DWDP) $30.52 0.00%
Honeywell International Inc. (HON) $230.94 0.00%
Amgen Inc. (AMGN) $230.63 -0.10%
Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) $158.03 -0.16%