U.S. stocks close lower as earnings season kicks off

New York [US], January 14: U.S. equities retreated on Tuesday as the fourth-quarter earnings season commenced with disappointing results from a major banking institution, overshadowed by ongoing policy debates and fresh inflation data.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 398.21 points, or 0.8 percent, to 49,191.99. The S&P 500 fell 13.53 points, or 0.19 percent, to 6,963.74, and the Nasdaq Composite Index lost 24.03 points, or 0.1 percent, to 23,709.87.
The financial sector led the session's decline. JPMorgan Chase, the nation's largest lender, reported quarterly earnings that fell short of expectations, impacted by a 2.2 billion U.S. dollar hit related to its Apple Card partnership. Shares of JPMorgan plummeted 4.19 percent, while Goldman Sachs followed with a 1.2 percent decline.
The banking industry's performance faced further pressure from continued scrutiny of U.S. President Donald Trump's proposal to cap credit card interest rates at 10 percent. JPMorgan CFO Jeremy Barnum signaled potential industry resistance to the plan, which was put forward late last week.
Conversely, the energy and consumer staples sectors bucked the downward trend, gaining 1.53 percent and 1.08 percent, respectively. Seven of the 11 primary S&P 500 sectors ended the day in positive territory despite the losses in the major indices.
On the economic front, the Bureau of Labor Statistics' consumer price index report showed that inflation in the United States remained steady in December 2025. The headline annual rate remained at 2.7 percent, while core inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy costs, rose 2.6 percent over the previous year. This core figure represents the lowest annual increase since early 2021.
"Distortions caused by the government shutdown have made the inflation data harder to interpret, but the recent run of figures suggests inflation has peaked," said Michael Pearce, chief U.S. economist at Oxford Economics. "We think tariff-driven price rises have mostly been passed through and anticipate further disinflation in services inflation in 2026 will drive inflation back closer to the 2 percent target by the end of the year."
According to the CME FedWatch Tool, the steady inflation and cooling labor market have led traders to expect the Federal Reserve to maintain interest rates at its upcoming meeting at the end of January, with the first of two projected rate cuts anticipated in June.
Source: Xinhua News Agency