Bank results season is upon us, with JP Morgan Chase & Co, Citigroup Inc and Wells Fargo & Co all reporting before the start of trading on Friday.
Traders do not seem impressed with any of the statements, with all three banks off the pace in pre-market trading, despite spread betting quotes pointing to a positive start .for the major indexes.
Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) was down 1.9% in screen-based trading after it posted second quarter earnings per share (EPS) of US$1.07, up from US$1.01 last year - which was also the number analysts had been expecting this time round.
Revenue was flat at US$22.2bn.
Citi (NYSE:C) was 0.8% lower, even though it also beat analysts’ expectations with its earnings.
The lender’s second quarter EPS was US$1.28, up four cents on a year earlier and seven cents higher than analysts had forecast.
Trading revenue was down 6% year-on-year, however.
It was much the same story at JP Morgan (NYSE:JPM): earnings better than expected but shares marked down - 1.8% in this instance.
EPS of US$1.82 comfortably beat forecasts of US$1.58 and was ahead of last year’s number of US$1.55.
Shares in Arconic Inc (NYSE:ARNC) look set to largely shrug off the news that, according to the Reuters news agency, a shareholders has filed a class action law suit seeking to recoup significant losses resulting from the use of Arconic cladding panels in the fire in block of flats that killed at least 80 people in London last month.
The shares were down 1.6% in pre-market trading at US$24.05. The stock closed at US$27.66 on 13 June, the day before the tragic fire at the Grenfell Tower block.