Claire HunteFinancial stocks were moribund in an otherwise jubilant market performance as Dow and S&P 500 reached new record highs.
Although the banks beat market expectations in earnings, the sector lagged today -0.89% around potential pitfalls in lending and interest rates.
The Commerce Department said retail sales fell 0.2% in June from the previous month. The US Labor Department said the Consumer Price Index showed no change for June edging up 0.1% as it did in May. This weaker-than-expected inflation suggested that the Fed would be less likely to raise interest rate. A prospect that helped gold to spike +0.88% to $1228.
The dollar also weakened on the news nudging oil prices up with brent crude at $49 a barrel. The Dow advanced 84 points or +0.39%, the S&P 500 went up 0.47% and Nasdaq up +0.61%.
- Dow 21,637 +0.39%
- S&P 500 2,459 +0.47%
- Nasdaq 6,312 +0.61%
- Russell 2000 1,428 +0.22%
- NYSE Composite 11,897 +0.44%
- Gold 1,228 +0.88%
- Oil WTI $49.02 +0.22%
- 10-Year Treasury Yield 2.32% -0.03
Money in a vice Source: Shutterstock.comJames Dimon points to: it's the economy, stupid
Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo were among the banks announcing second quarter results before market open Friday.
However, banks declined caught up in a sell off the sector as the softer data was quickly translated into a negative impact on profit for banks particularly around interest income.