Stocks Opened Higher as Banks Beat Estimates

U.S. stocks opened higher Friday as investors welcomed better-than-expected results from three of the largest banks. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lately added 141.07 points, or 0.78%, to 18,240.01. The S&P 500 gained 14.95 points, or 0.70%, to 2,147.50. The Nasdaq Composite was up 42.91 points, or 0.82%, to 5,256.24.

J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. said its third-quarter profit fell 7.6%, but still beat estimates. The bank reported a profit of $6.29 billion, or $1.58 a share. That compares with a profit of $6.8 billion, or $1.68 a share, in the same period of 2015. Revenue rose 8.4% to $25.51 billion.

Citigroup Inc. said Friday that third-quarter profit and revenue were down, but results were still better than what analysts had predicted. The bank reported a profit of $3.84 billion, or $1.24 a share. That compares with the $4.29 billion, or $1.35 a share, it reported in the same period of 2015.Revenue was down to $17.76 billion from $18.69 billion a year ago.

Wells Fargo & Co. said its third-quarter profit fell as the nation’s third-largest bank continues to battle outrage over a sales-tactics scandal that led to the departure of CEO John Stumpf this week. The bank reported a profit of $5.64 billion, or $1.03 a share. That compares with $5.8 billion, or $1.05 a share, in the same period of 2015.

Retail sales climbed in September by the most in three months, showing American shoppers began to spend freely again after shying away from merchants earlier in the quarter. The 0.6 percent advance followed a revised 0.2 percent decline in August, Commerce Department figures showed Friday.