Wall St set for lower open as retail sales data offsets earnings cheer

U.S. stock indexes were set for a lower open on Friday as weak March retail sales data suggested the economy was losing steam, while upbeat earnings from a trio of big banks helped assuage fears of further stress in the sector.

JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N), Citigroup Inc (C.N) and Wells Fargo & Co (WFC.N) beat analysts’ estimates for first-quarter profit, signaling resilience following the banking crisis in March. Their shares rose between 2% and 6% in premarket trading.

“JPM is one of those household names in a sector that we were the most concerned about reporting better-than-expected earnings and that is certainly putting a bid in the stock and a bid in the market,” said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at B Riley Wealth in Boston.

The S&P 500 banks index (.SPXBK) has lagged the broader S&P 500 (.SPX) this year with a 13% decline, while the KBW Regional Banking index (.KRX) has already lost 20% in its worst performance since 2009.

Regional bank PNC Financial Services Group Inc (PNC.N) edged up 0.4% after its quarterly earnings.

This report’s information was first seen on REUTERS; to read more, click this link.