Stocks dip amid Syria fears; dollar little changed vs peers

Financials slump after JPMorgan, Wells, Citi results

NEW YORK, April 14, (Agencies): Gauge of global stocks eased on Friday as concern over a broader conflict in Syria left investors nervous, while US bank shares led Wall Street lower.

The State Department said on Friday that it had proof that Syria carried out a recent chemical weapons attack in the town of Douma.

The prospect of Western military action in Syria that could lead to confrontation with Russia hung over the Middle East.

On Wall Street, fear of broader conflict in Syria further unnerved investors, while financial stocks led the day’s declines.

The banks’ results kicked off the US earnings reporting period. Tax cuts are expected to help corporate America post its biggest quarterly profit growth in seven years. Earnings at S&P 500 companies are estimated to grow by 18.4 percent from a year earlier.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 122.91 points, or 0.5 percent, to 24,360.14, the S&P 500 lost 7.69 points, or 0.29 percent, to 2,656.3 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 33.60 points, or 0.47 percent, to 7,106.65.

For the week, the S&P 500 was up 2 percent, the Dow rose 1.8 percent and Nasdaq gained 2.8 percent.

The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index rose 0.10 percent and MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe shed 0.15 percent. The MSCI index ended the week with its strongest performance in five.

In the oil market, US crude rose 32 cents to settle at $67.39 a barrel, while Brent crude rose 56 cents to $72.58.

The dollar was little changed against a basket of major currencies as traders waited for more clarity on a possible Western military intervention in Syria.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, was 0.03 percent higher at 89.78.

The Japanese yen weakened 0.01 percent versus the greenback at 107.36 per dollar.

Aluminum hit a six-year high on Friday and posted its biggest weekly gain since the current contract was launched after the United States imposed sanctions on Russia’s UC Rusal , the world’s second-biggest producer.

Financial stocks led a drop on Wall Street on Friday as results from big banks failed to enthuse and fear of broader conflict in Syria further unnerved investors.

The S&P banks index fell 2.6 percent and the broader S&P financial index lost 1.6 percent, the most among the 11 major S&P sectors.

Shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co, the biggest US bank by assets, dropped 2.7 percent after the bank’s quarterly profit fell slightly short of expectations. JPMorgan shares were the biggest weight on the S&P 500.

Wells Fargo sank 3.4 percent after the bank said it may have to pay a penalty of $1 billion to resolve investigations, while Citigroup dropped 1.6 percent despite beating profit estimates.

Weak loan growth weighed on bank shares, said RJ Grant, head of trading at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods in New York.

Friday’s bank results kicked off earnings season, with Thomson Reuters data predicting profits at S&P 500 companies increased by 18.6 percent in the first quarter from a year ago, their biggest rise in seven years.

Boeing fell 2.4 percent after a Russian lawmaker said the country may stop supplying titanium to the company.

Issues with engines for Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner planes also weighed on the company’s shares.

The top gainer among S&P sectors was energy, up 1.1 percent as oil prices rose.

Tesla rose 2.1 percent after founder Elon Musk said the electric car maker would be profitable in the third and fourth quarters and would not need to raise any money this year.

Volume on US exchanges was 5.78 billion shares, compared to the 7.22 billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading days.

Key figures around 2100 GMT: New York - Dow: DOWN 0.5 percent at 24,360.14 (close)

New York - S&P 500: DOWN 0.3 percent at 2,656.30 (close)

New York - Nasdaq: DOWN 0.5 percent at 7,106.65 (close)

London - FTSE 100: UP 0.1 percent at 7,264.56 (close)

Frankfurt - DAX 30: UP 0.2 percent at 12,442.40 (close)

Paris - CAC 40: UP 0.1 percent at 5,315.02 (close)

EURO STOXX 50: UP 0.2 percent at 3,448.12 (close)

Tokyo - Nikkei 225: UP 0.6 percent at 21,778.74 (close)

Hong Kong - Hang Seng: DOWN 0.1 percent at 30,808.38 (close)

Shanghai - Composite: DOWN 0.7 percent at 3,159.05 (close)

Euro/dollar: UP at $1.2338 from $1.2327 at 2100 GMT

Dollar/yen: UP at 107.35 yen from 107.33

Pound/dollar: UP at $1.4241 from $1.4228