PARIS (Reuters) – The New York Stock Exchange opened higher on Friday after results deemed solid by American banks which opened the ball for quarterly results.
In early trading, the Dow Jones index gained 153.66 points, or 0.45% to 34,548.80 points and the broader Standard & Poor’s 500 rose 0.23% to 4,520.50 points.
The Nasdaq Composite takes 0.28% or 40.26 points, to 14,178.828.
The largest US lender, JPMorgan (+1.42%) saw a 67% jump in quarterly profit while Wells Fargo (+2.25%) raised its annual net interest income outlook on the back of of rising interest rates.
“It was very difficult to find anything wrong with JPMorgan’s second quarter results this morning,” said Octavio Marenzi, CEO of consulting firm Opimas.
“Retail banking has been particularly strong, but even investment banking, which has been a problem child over the past year, is starting to show signs of life.”
Citigroup, however, yielded 0.44%, having reported a profit down 36% in the quarter.
According to data from Refinitiv, earnings for S&P-500 companies are expected to decline 6.4% year on year in the past quarter. However, most of the major American banks escaped this trend thanks in particular to the increase in interest rates on loans.
Investors are also awaiting the first results of the University of Michigan’s monthly survey of US household sentiment in July, at 2:00 p.m. GMT, which should show an improvement, according to the expectations of analysts polled by Refinitiv.
On the week, US equities are set to make solid gains, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq on course for its best week since mid-March.
The Nasdaq and S&P 500 ended the past two sessions at over-year highs after data signaled easing price pressures in the United States, bolstering hopes that the Federal Reserve could soon end its rate hike cycle.
At the end of the day Thursday, Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller, however, said he favored two more rate hikes of 25 basis points this year.
Among other values, the fund manager BlackRock fell 1.64% after a drop in its quarterly turnover.
In contrast, health insurer UnitedHealth Group gained 5.15% after posting a quarterly profit on Friday that beat expectations thanks to lower-than-expected spending.
(Report Johann M Cherian and Bansari Mayur Kamdar in Bangalore, Kate Entringer)
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