US stocks finish higher as bank shares rebound
Wall Street stocks finished a strong week in positive fashion on Friday, shaking off early weakness and pushing higher amid a turnaround in banking shares. Major indices opened the day lower following results from JPMorgan Chase and other large banks that signaled expectations for a "mild" recession in 2023. But markets reversed course in the middle of the session, a sign "the weakness was seen as a buying opportunity," according to Briefing.com analyst Patrick O'Hare, who noted that the bank forecasts did not imply a deep downturn. The market is "reasonably confident we're not going to see the worst-case scenario of a hard landing," O'Hare added. The S&P 500 finished at 3,999, up 0.4 percent for the day and gaining 2.7 percent for the week. The Dow Jones advanced 0.3 percent to 34,302, while the Nasdaq jumped 0.7 percent to 11,079. The reversal also coincided with a surprisingly strong consumer sentiment report from the University of Michigan. Among individual companies, all four large banks that reported results finished in positive territory, with JPMorgan up 2.5 percent, Citigroup 1.7 percent, Bank of America 2.2 percent and Wells Fargo 3.3 percent. Delta Air Lines fell 3.5 percent after reporting better-than-expected results due to disappointment over its first quarter forecast, which reflects the hit from higher expected labour costs. Tesla dropped 0.9 percent as it announced it will cut the price of its best-selling electric vehicle models up to 20 percent in Europe and the United States, launching a price war as more rivals hit the market. (AFP)