The S&P 500 Is Flat; Bank Shares Are Mixed After The Results

(CTN News) – There was little change in the S&P 500 in afternoon trading Friday, as shares of banks and other financial companies were mixed after their quarterly reports, offsetting gains in UnitedHealth Group and other health insurance companies.

There was little change in the share prices of JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo. There have been higher quarterly profits reported by both companies, but both said they have set aside more money to cover expected losses resulting from commercial real estate loans.

In the last few days, the S&P 500 banks index has lost 0.9% of its value.

Stocks of UnitedHealth Group were up 8%, making it the best performing stock in the S&P 500 and Dow, while the healthcare sector was the biggest winner in the S&P 500. Cigna was up 4.7% in the last quarter while Humana was up 2.8%.

In spite of lower-than-expected expenses, UnitedHealth’s quarterly profit exceeded analysts’ expectations.

Oliver Pursche, senior vice president and advisor for Wealthspire Advisors in Westport, Connecticut, told MarketWatch that the stock has rallied significantly so far this year in anticipation of better-than-expected earnings.

There is a feeling right now and is likely to continue to be felt through the end of the summer that stocks are a little fatigued and there is a lack of confidence that they can rise materially.”

The day’s commentary essentially kicked off the US second-quarter reporting period. According to Refintiiv data, it is expected that S&P 500 earnings will have declined by 8.1% in the quarter as compared to a year ago.

In the last trading day, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 127.96 points, or 0.37%, to 34,523.1, the S&P 500 fell 2.32 points, or 0.05%, to 4,507.72, while the Nasdaq Composite dropped 20.26 points, or 0.14%, to 14,118.31.

According to the latest figures, indexes are expected to make solid gains this week, with the S&P 500 up more than 17% this year so far.

It was also reported that Citigroup shares were down 3.4% following the lender’s quarterly profit falling to a three-year low, while BlackRock shares were down one percent following the company’s quarterly revenue decline.

The number of declining issues outnumbered those in advance on the NYSE by a ratio of 2.61-to-1, while on the Nasdaq, decliners were preferred by a ratio of 2.26-to-1.

There were 39 new 52-week highs and four new lows for the S&P 500 index during the week, while there were 87 new highs and 52 new lows for the Nasdaq Composite index.

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