Join today and have your say! It’s FREE!

Become a member today, It's free!

We will not release or resell your information to third parties without your permission.
Please Try Again
{{ error }}
By providing my email, I consent to receiving investment related electronic messages from Stockhouse.

or

Sign In

Please Try Again
{{ error }}
Password Hint : {{passwordHint}}
Forgot Password?

or

Please Try Again {{ error }}

Send my password

SUCCESS
An email was sent with password retrieval instructions. Please go to the link in the email message to retrieve your password.

Become a member today, It's free!

We will not release or resell your information to third parties without your permission.

Bank Shares Rally to Send Indexes Up

JPM

Stocks opened higher on Friday as bank shares got a boost after the release of the Federal Reserve's stress test results while investors looked ahead to a key meeting between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average picked up 27.89 points at 26,554.47, as J.P. Morgan Chase shares outperformed.

The S&P 500 increased 5.74 points to 2,930.66, led by the financials sector.

The NASDAQ Composite acquired 5.85 points to 7,973.60

Friday's session marks the end of a stellar month for stocks. The major indexes were all up more than 6% through Thursday's close. The Dow was on pace for its biggest June gain since 1938. The S&P 500 was set to post its best June performance since 1955.

J.P. Morgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, Citigroup and Wells Fargo all rose more than 1.5%. Goldman Sachs and Bank of America gained more than 2% each.

Their gains come after they passed the Fed's annual stress test and got approval to boost dividends and share repurchase programs. Goldman hiked its quarterly dividend by nearly 50%while J.P. Morgan raised its dividend by 10 cents.

Procter & Gamble also gave stocks a jolt, rising 1.7% after an analyst at Goldman Sachs upgraded the stock to buy from neutral. The analyst said Procter "has been a clear benefactor of the recent acceleration in end-market growth, and we expect the market to continue to grow in the 3%-plus range in the future."

But Wall Street's gains were kept in check as traders awaited the Trump-Xi trade meeting scheduled for Saturday.

The world's two largest economies have maintained firm stances going into the weekend, with the Chinese Ministry of Commerce calling on Washington to cancel its pressure and sanction measures on Huawei and other Chinese companies, while Trump reiterated a threat to impose tariffs on all Chinese imports if talks fail.

Prices for the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury were unchanged, keeping yields at Thursday's 2.01%.

Oil prices were down 21 cents to $59.22 U.S. a barrel.

Gold prices surged $2.10 to $1,414.10 U.S. an ounce.



Get the latest news and updates from Stockhouse on social media

Follow STOCKHOUSE Today