Weekly Drop of 2% in S&P 500; JPMorgan, Wells Fargo Earnings Diverge

Nichole Harper
11 Apr, 2014
New York City

Stocks on Wall Street struggled and the S&P 500 index extended the decline to 2.2% in the week. The index had rallied more than 8% in the month to April 2. JPMorgan net declined on weak fixed-income trading. Wells Fargo net topped estimates. Coldwater Creek plans liquidation.

[R]12:30 PM New York – Stocks on Wall Street struggled and the S&P 500 index extended the decline to 2.2% in the week. The index had rallied more than 8% in the month to April 2. JPMorgan net declined on weak fixed-income trading. Wells Fargo net topped estimates. Coldwater Creek plans liquidation.[/R]

Stocks on Wall Street struggled to move higher and fluctuated after opening sharply lower.

Tech stocks led the decliners for the second week in a row and the S&P 500 index declined the most in two months.

Market index jumped more than 8% between February 3 and April 2 and since then the S&P 500 index has dropped more than 3%. For the year the index is down 1% and for the week the index has fallen 2.2%.

S&P 500 index declined 05% or 6.81 to 1,826.32 and the Nasdaq Composite Index fell 0.4% or 15.71 to 4,038.76.

World Markets

In London trading, FTSE 100 index slumped 1.5% or 99.96 to 6,542.01 and in Frankfurt the DAX index declined 1.9% or 183.10 to 9,271.44.

In Paris, CAC 40 index dropped 1.7% or 77.14 to 4,336.35.

Gloom in Tokyo trading deepened and market indexes registered one of the worst weekly declines in the last three years since the earthquake in March 2011.

The Nikke index and the broader Topix index plunged after the yen gained and investors sold stocks of exporters and walked away from high flying tech stocks. Yahoo Japan declined 2%, Fast Retailing extended weekly loss to 13% and Toyota declined for the seventh day in a row.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average declined 340.07 or 2.4% to 13,960.05 and the Topix index slipped 15.40 or 1.4% to 1,134.09.

For the week, Nikkei 225 plunged 7.3%.

The yen strengthened to 101.73 against the U.S. dollar.

U.S. Stocks in Review

The weakness in tech stocks persisted for the second week in a row and banks were in focus.

JPMorgan Chase & Co ((JPM)) declined 3.3% or $1.90 to $55.50 after the investment company reported total net revenue in the first-quarter ending in March declined 8% to $23 billion.

Net income in the quarter plunged 19% to $5.27 billion or $1.28 a diluted share compared to $6.53 million or $1.59.

The company said fixed income trading revenues declined 21% to $3.8 billion from $4.75 billion a year earlier on weaker performance across most products and lower levels of client activity compared to a stronger prior year.

Markets & Investor Services revenue plummeted 18% to $5.9 billion.

Wells Fargo & Co ((WFC)) gained 26 cents to $47.97 after the investment bank reported revenue in the first-quarter ending in March declined 8% to $20.6 billion.

Net income in the quarter climbed 14% to $5.9 billion or $1.05 a diluted share compared to $5.2 million or 92 cents.

For the quarter ended, the bank said core deposits jumped 6% to $994.2 billion and core loans climbed 6% to $748.4 billion.

Wells Fargo added non-performing assets in the quarter declined 18% to $4.1billion.