US stocks post weekly gain, earnings season kicks in

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US stocks continue to gain ground last week as investors processed the third quarter earnings reports of some financial giants, with the Dow hitting an intraday record before retreating.

For the week, the blue-chip Dow rose 0.4 percent, and the broader S&P 500 gained 0.2 percent, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq jumped 0.2 percent.

Some of the world’s top financial companies had begun to issue their earnings reports. Bank of America reported third-quarter results that beat Wall Street expectations despite a slowdown in its fixed-income trading business. Its earnings per diluted share increased 17 percent to 0.48 US dollars.

Meanwhile, shares of Wells Fargo plunged nearly three percent after the bank reported third quarter revenue that missed expectations on Friday.

The banking giant reported quarterly revenue of 21.9 billion dollars, down two percent on a year-over-year basis.

JP Morgan Chase reported quarterly earnings per share of 1.76 dollars and net revenue of 26.2 billion dollars, beating market expectations. However, investors were concerned about the banking giant's 27-percent year-on-year decline in fixed income trading revenue.

Citigroup also reported better-than-expected earnings. Its earnings per diluted share in the third quarter reached 1.42 dollars while the revenues stood at 18.2 billion dollars.

Retail giant Wal-Mart announced a 20-billion-US dollar buyback on Tuesday. The company also said it expected to add 1,000 online grocery pickup locations at its US stores in fiscal year 2019.

On the economic front, the US Labor Department said on Friday its Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers increased 0.5 percent in September on a seasonally adjusted basis. Over the last 12 months, the all items index rose 2.2 percent.

The consumer sentiment index, a survey of consumers by the University of Michigan, jumped to 101.1 in October, far exceeding economists' expectation of 95.

US retail sales were lower than expected in September but recovered from the prior month's 0.2 percent slide.

The Commerce Department said on Friday the advance estimates of US retail and food services sales for September 2017, adjusted for seasonal variation and holiday and trading-day differences but not for price changes, were 483.9 billion dollars, an increase of 1.6 percent from the previous month, and 4.4 percent above September 2016.

Source(s): Xinhua News Agency