Good earnings news from big U.S. banks drove U.S. stocks higher today. As of 3 p.m. New York time, the Standard & Poor’s 500 was up 1.10% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average was ahead 1.03%. The NASDAQ Composite had climbed .28% and the Russell 2000 small cap index had gained 1.17%. The iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (EEM) was 0.91% higher.
The good news from bank stock earnings spread to other sectors too with the Technology Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLK) rising 1.12% to almost match the gain for the Financial Select Sector SPDR (XLF) at 1.61%.
But the good news from banks hasn’t stopped a retreat in oil prices on fear of a slowdown in the global economy. U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate was lower by 1.55% and international benchmark Brent crude was down 1.21%.
The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury climbed 3 basis point to 1.76%. The yield on the 2-year Treasury kept pace gained 3 basis points to 1.62%.
The U.S. dollar fell with the Dollar Spot Index off 0.14%.
