By Yasin Ebrahim
Investing.com – The S&P 500 struggled for direction Monday, as investors digested the latest wave of quarterly earnings, including better-than-expected results from Bank of America.
The S&P 500 fell 0.3%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.3%, or 102 points, the Nasdaq fell 0.3%.
Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) delivered second-quarter results that beat on both the top and bottom lines, led by strong trading growth and a pick-up in lending, sending its shares more than 3%.
Bank of America chief executive Brian Moynihan talked up the prospect for the bank’s lending business, forecasting "significant NII [net interest income] improvement through the next several quarters," as the Federal Reserve is expected to step-up the pace of rate hikes in the next few months.
The positive remarks helped allay some of the fears about the shape of the consumer after JPMorgan’s quarterly results last week stoked concerns about loan losses.
Banks were also boosted by a surge in Treasury yields as the 10-year Treasury yield inched closer to 3% in anticipation of aggressive fed monetary policy tightening ahead.
Other major Wall Street banks including JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM), Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS), and Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) were up more than 1%, more than offsetting slip in the Bank of New York Mellon (NYSE:BK) after the latter reported a miss on Q2 revenue.
Big tech continued its struggles to find its footing as investor appetite for growth sectors of the market continued to be hindered by surging Treasury yields.
Twitter (NYSE:TWTR), meanwhile, continued to dominate investor attention, rising more than 5%, after the social media company launched a limited duration shareholder rights plan, or “poison pill,” to thwart Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s bid to take the company private.
The limited duration shareholder rights plan would allow other shareholders to buy shares of Twitter at a discount, diluting Musk’s stake if it reaches 15%, which is the threshold for triggering the so-called poison pill, making it expensive for him to acquire the company.
In China tech news, ride-hailing firm Didi Global Inc ADR (NYSE:DIDI) fell more than 16% after reporting a decline in fourth-quarter revenue.
Energy was the top performing sector on the day, up more than 1%, as oil prices continued their advanced amid fresh supply concerns, already heightened by prospect of a prolonged Russia-Ukraine war, exacerbated by Libya cutting production.
Valero Energy (NYSE:VLO), Phillips 66 (NYSE:PSX), Coterra Energy (NYSE:CTRA) were among the top gainers in the energy sector.