Stocks fell on Friday afternoon, giving up earlier gains, as results from major banks failed to boost hopes for a robust quarterly earnings season.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) lost 0.5%, or nearly 200 points. The benchmark S&P 500 (^GSPC) slipped 0.1%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) lost nearly 0.2%.
Wall Street lenders reported fourth-quarter results, seen as a key opportunity for stocks to erase losses built up so far this year. JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Bank of America (BAC) and Wells Fargo (WFC) reported strong results on Friday. However, prices for the latter two stocks fell as they failed to calm jitters about potential problems ahead.
Markets punished airline stocks to cap the week. United Airlines (UAL) fell more than 9%, while American Airlines (AAL) and Delta (DAL) fell more than 8%. Delta reported earnings earlier in the day, and while the company beat revenue and profit estimates, it cut its 2024 profit forecast. Elsewhere, Meta (META) nearly pulled off a stunning turnaround, hitting a 52-week high in intraday trading achieved, thereby recovering from a staggering decline in its share price in 2022. The social media company is up within 2% of its all-time high.
Also in focus: Oil prices rose more than 1% after the U.S. and its allies launched airstrikes against Houthi rebels in Yemen, prompting threats of retaliation from the Iran-backed group behind attacks on ships in the Red Sea . Brent futures (BZ=F) were trading at around $80 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate futures (CL=F) were near $73.
Meanwhile, investors are looking for more insight into price pressures after the consumer price index came in higher than expected on Thursday. There was a reversal on Friday as the producer price index posted an unexpected fall in prices last month, boosting hopes that inflation will cool further in the coming months.
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Fri, January 12, 2024 at 5:39 p.m. GMTShares are falling in afternoon trading
Stocks lost ground Friday afternoon, erasing earlier gains, as reports from major banks failed to boost hopes of a robust quarterly earnings season.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) lost 0.5%, or nearly 200 points. The benchmark S&P 500 (^GSPC) slipped 0.1%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) lost nearly 0.2%.
- Fri, January 12, 2024 at 4:48 p.m. GMT
Citigroup announces plans to cut 20,000 jobs by 2026
Citigroup (C) is on track to become the smallest of the big four U.S. banks by employees as CEO Jane Fraser bets on a dramatic restructuring to boost the company's stock price.
The New York bank said it expects to cut 20,000 jobs by 2026, which will save it $2.5 billion, Yahoo Finance's David Hollerith reports. Citigroup also plans to lose another 40,000 if it takes its Mexican consumer unit Banamex public.
The cuts would leave Citigroup with 180,000 employees, likely making it the smallest of the big four banks in the U.S. and reducing its total workforce by 25%. The year 2023 ended with 240,000.
The announcement came as Citigroup reported a fourth-quarter net loss of $1.8 billion, resulting from a $1.7 billion FDIC assessment and other previously disclosed charges and reserves.
By midday, shares were down more than 1%.
- Fri, January 12, 2024 at 4:04 p.m. GMT
Oil prices rise after US air strikes in Yemen
Tensions continue to rise in the Middle East after US-led air strikes against Yemen's Houthi rebels escalate the threat of further hostilities and add volatility to the market.
Oil prices rose 2% in morning trading on Friday following airstrikes coordinated by the U.S. and British militaries. The strikes came in response to Houthi attacks on shipping vessels in the Red Sea, which forced global shipping companies to reroute their ships, extending the duration of voyages and increasing their costs.
The Red Sea flows into the Suez Canal and offers ships the shortest passage between Europe and Asia. Approximately 10% of all global trade passes through the important international sea route.
The airstrikes sparked threats of retaliation from the Iran-backed group behind the Red Sea attacks, raising the possibility of further disruption to global trade.
Brent futures (BZ=F) were trading at around $80 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate futures (CL=F) were near $74.
- Fri, January 12, 2024 at 3:25 p.m. GMT
Stock trends in morning trading
Here are some of Yahoo Finance's top stocks Trend ticker Page during morning trading on Friday:
Black Rock (BLACK): The asset manager's shares hovered just above flat on Friday morning after the company beat earnings expectations and announced that its assets under management exceeded $10 trillion in the fourth quarter of 2023. The company also announced that it is acquiring infrastructure fund manager GIP for $12.5 billion. GIP manages over $100 billion in assets.
Delta Airlines (DAL): The airline's shares fell more than 7% after it cut its 2024 profit forecast and investors downplayed its fourth-quarter revenue and profit increase. Delta reported revenue of $13.66 billion and profit of $1.28 per share.
JPMorgan Chase (JPM): Shares of the largest U.S. bank rose 1% after it reported a 12% rise in revenue to $39.94 billion, beating analysts' expectations. All in all, the bank posted an annual profit of almost $50 billion for 2023. Among the major banks that reported results on Friday, JPMorgan led the gainers during the morning session.
Major U.S. lenders reported falling profits in the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo (WFC) fell nearly 3%, Bank of America (BAC) slipped more than 2% and Citigroup (C) gained about 0.3%.
- Fri, Jan 12, 2024 at 2:37 p.m. GMT
Stocks are rising slightly and outperforming bank profits
Stocks rose slightly on Friday morning as investors largely overlooked underwhelming results from major banks
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) rose 0.1%, or about 50 points. The benchmark S&P 500 (^GSPC) gained 0.4%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) gained about 0.3%.
Fri, January 12, 2024 at 1:34 p.m. GMTThat's a 10… followed by 12 zeros
BlackRock (BLK) said on Friday that its assets under management surpassed $10,000,000,000,000 at the end of the fourth quarter, with the market recovery over the last year causing client assets to rise for the first time in two years have exceeded this threshold.
The company's assets under management as of December 31st stood at $10,008,995,000,000 to be precise.
In 2023, BlackRock recorded net inflows of $289 billion, with the $96 billion in assets flowing into the company's products in the fourth quarter marking the second-best quarter of the year. In the first quarter, around $110 billion in net assets flowed into BlackRock vehicles.
Alongside its quarterly results, BlackRock also announced on Friday that it had acquired infrastructure fund manager GIP for $12.5 billion. GIP manages over $100 billion in assets.
- Fri, January 12, 2024 at 1:18 p.m. GMT
Jamie Dimon again warns of “more stubborn” inflation and higher interest rates
JPMorgan (JPM) reported fourth-quarter results early Friday, capping a record year for the country's largest bank.
And in the company's fourth-quarter earnings release, investors got another comprehensive outlook on the U.S. and global economy from its outspoken CEO Jamie Dimon.
Dimon largely reiterated his view that investors were becoming too complacent with the idea that inflation was on a gentle path back to the Federal Reserve's 2 percent target and that interest rates would remain higher than forecasters expected, saying that The bank said a variety of “unprecedented” factors in the markets meant “must be prepared for any environment.”
Here are Dimon's comments in full, with our emphasis and spacing added:
The US economy continues to be resilient, consumers continue to spend and markets are currently anticipating a soft landing. It is important to note that the economy is being stimulated by large government deficit spending and previous stimulus programs.
In addition, there is a continued need for increased spending due to the green economy, restructuring of global supply chains, increased military spending and rising healthcare costs. This may cause inflation to become more persistent and interest rates to be higher than markets expect. Additionally, there are a number of downside risks to consider.
The quantitative tightening will remove over $900 billion in liquidity from the system every year We have never experienced a complete tightening cycle. And the ongoing wars in Ukraine and the Middle East have the potential to disrupt energy and food markets, migration, and military and economic relations, in addition to their terrible human costs. These significant and somewhat unprecedented forces cause us to remain cautious. While we hope for the best, the past year has shown why we must be prepared for any environment.
Fri, January 12, 2024 at 5:39 p.m. GMT
Fri, January 12, 2024 at 1:34 p.m. GMTClick here for a detailed analysis of the latest stock market news and events affecting stock prices.
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