Stocks Open unchanged, Eye on Bank Results

U.S. stocks opened little changed on Friday  after bank earnings including results from J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., which reported profit exceeding estimates on higher mortgage revenue. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lately rose 31.18 points, or 0.23%, to 13,357.57. The S&P 500 index was up 1.72 points at 1,434.564. The Nasdaq Composite gained 2.60 points to 3,052.01.

J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.’s (JPM) third-quarter earnings rose 34% as the bank saw revenue rise and its provision for credit losses fall. Results topped Wall Street expectations. J.P. Morgan reported a profit of $5.71 billion, or $1.40 a share, versus $4.26 billion, or $1.02 a share, a year ago. Revenue on a managed basis was up 6.1% to $25.86 billion.

Wells Fargo (WFC) posted record earnings in the third quarter as higher fees and trading profits boosted the bank’s revenue. Wells’ net income in the quarter ended Sept. 30 rose 23 percent, to $4.72 billion from $3.84 billion in the same period last year. Overall revenue rose 8 percent to $21.21 billion, slightly lower than analysts expected.

A second month of sharp gains in gasoline costs drove wholesale prices higher in September. But outside of the surge in energy, prices were well contained. Wholesale prices rose 1.1 percent in September following a 1.7 percent gain in August which had been the largest one-month increase in more than three years, the Labor Department said Friday.

Countries should not sacrifice growth for the sake of austerity, the head of the International Monetary Fund told global financial leaders Friday, urging that the pace of government debt reduction be tempered by spending to help get the unemployed back to work.