Banks sink as US stocks close mixed

NEW YORK: Falling banking stocks dragged the US equity market down on Thursday amid worry about fallout from a Greek default, but Apple and Google helped the Nasdaq gain for a fourth straight day.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 40.72 points (0.35 percent) to finish at 11,478.13.

The S&P 500, a broader measure of the markets, fell 3.59 points (0.30 percent) to 1,203.66, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite gained 15.51 points (0.60 percent) to 2,620.24.

"US stocks spent most of the session south of break-even today, with banks leading the retreat in the wake of a less-than-stellar earnings showing from JPMorgan Chase," said Andrea Kramer at Schaeffer's Investment Research.

JPMorgan Chase, the first big bank to report third-quarter earnings, tumbled 4.8 percent to US$31.60 after posting a drop in profit, but not as much as analysts expected thanks to a US$1.9 billion risk accounting revision.

Acknowledging a "challenging investment banking and capital markets environment," the bank reported profit of US$4.3 billion, down four percent from the same quarter in the previous year.

Bank of America lost 5.5 percent, Citigroup dropped 5.3 percent and Morgan Stanley shed 4.4 percent.

European stocks were also sharply lower on falling banking sector shares, amid heightened fears over lender exposure to the eurozone debt crisis and the potential impact of more recapitalisation.

In the technology sector, Internet giant Google starred, adding 1.9 percent at US$558.99. After the market closed, Google reported third-quarter profit of US$9.72 billion and a 30 percent jump in revenue from a year ago.

Apple rose 1.6 percent to US$408.43 after it won a temporary ban on Samsung selling its Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Australia. -- AFP