Oct 16, 2019 - Economy

Bank earnings and health care stocks helped the Dow turn positive in October

Dion Rabouin

Illustration of a giant balloon float shaped like an upward trending arrow — Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios

The Dow turned positive for October after solid earnings from some of the biggest U.S. banks and surprisingly solid earnings from health care companies. Both sectors have lagged the market this year.

What happened: Bank CEOs, including JPMorgan's Jamie Dimon and Citigroup's Michael Corbat, continued to tout the strength of the U.S. consumer.

Shares of JPMorgan Chase rose 3% after its revenue and earnings rose more than expected.
Wells Fargo rose 1.7% after a surprise increase in revenue, though its third-quarter profits fell more than expected.
Citigroup gained 1.4% after reporting quarterly sales and profits that beat expectations.
Goldman Sachs managed to see a 0.3% increase in its share price despite a 26% decline in profit from the year before.

Health care giant UnitedHealth Group and consumer health bellwether Johnson&Johnson both topped analyst expectations and raised their full-year profit guidance.

The big picture: The S&P closed 1% higher and the Nasdaq gained 1.24% after the positive earnings news.

Go deeper: Health care stocks roar after J&J, UnitedHealth beat earnings

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Bank earnings and health care stocks helped the Dow turn positive in October

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