Stocks were up slightly near noon following yesterday's broad spike on Wall Street. Big banks have been the focal point during the session, as major players Citi (C), JPMorgan (JPM) and Wells Fargo (WFC) all reporting quarterly earnings along with other mega-cap financial peers. In addition, the U.S. Treasury's confirmation last night that it has removed the currency manipulator designation from China has also weighed, as investors look for more updates in the trade dispute between the U.S. and Beijing.
ECONOMIC NEWS: In the U.S., December headline CPI rose 0.2%, with the core rate up 0.1%, a little below expectations, following respective November gains of 0.3% and 0.2%. The NFIB small business optimism index dropped -1.9% to 102.7 in December, largely erasing November's 2.2% gain to 104.7.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of the Treasury yesterday determined that no major trading partner, including China, met the relevant legislative criteria for currency manipulation or enhanced analysis.
TOP NEWS: Large U.S. banks kicked off the first earnings season of 2020, with Citi (C) shares rising 2.7% after the lender reported better-than-expected earnings and revenue for the fourth quarter. Of note, Citi CEO Michael Corbat said that the bank had a "strong finish" to 2019. Also joining in the rush of earnings releases was JPMorgan (JPM), whose shares were almost 2% higher after it reported upbeat top- and bottom-line results for Q4, with the bank reported a 19% year-over-year increase in assets under management. On the other side, Wells Fargo (WFC) shares were just over 4% lower after the bank reported lower-than-ex-ected Q4 earnings per share and revenue, with net interest income for the quarter falling $1.4B year-over-year. Of note, new CEO Charlie Scharf said that Wells Fargo is a "wonderful and important franchise" that has also made "some serious mistakes."
In other earnings news, shares of Delta Air Lines (DAL) rose 3.8% after the carrier reported better-than-expected Q4 results and maintained its fiscal 2020 earnings guidance. Of note, the company said on its quarterly conference call that it expects to repurchase $1B in shares by the middle of the year.
In non-earnings news, Visa (V) was in focus after the payments company announced after the close yesterday that it is buying start-up Plaid in a $5.3B deal. Among Plaid's high-profile clients are PayPal's (PYPL) peer-to-peer payment app Venmo, mobile investing app Robinhood and cryptocurrency exchanges Coinbase and Gemini.
MAJOR MOVERS: Among the noteworthy gainers was SmileDirectClub (SDC), which rose 15.1% after announcing plans to sell aligners directly to orthodontists. Also higher was Beyond Meat (BYND), which gained 7.7% after executive chairman Seth Goldman told China news agency Xinhua that the company hopes to enter the Chinese mainland market this year.
Among the notable losers was NantKwest (NK), which slid 16.5% after reporting results from NK Cells trial which included a compassionate use expanded access IND combining the PD-L1-targeted NK cell with ImmunityBio's IL-15 fusion protein. Also lower was GameStop (GME), which fell 12.6% after reporting holiday sales declined 27% and cutting FY19 same-store sales guidance
INDEXES: Near midday, the Dow was up 116.22, or 0.4%, to 29,023.27, the Nasdaq was up 3.43, or 0.037%, to 9,277.59, and the S&P 500 was up 1.54, or 0.047%, to 3,289.67.
Citi
+2.11 (+2.62%)
JPMorgan
+2.63 (+1.92%)
Wells Fargo
-2.11 (-4.05%)
Delta Air Lines
+2.4 (+4.04%)
Visa
+0.68 (+0.35%)
PayPal
-0.86 (-0.75%)
SmileDirectClub
+1.49 (+14.59%)
Beyond Meat
+7.13 (+6.23%)
NantKwest
-0.85 (-13.08%)
GameStop
-0.71 (-13.05%)