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US EQUITIES DIP; TECH AND BANK STOCKS DRAG

Wall Street indexes are lower after the open on Wednesday with hotshot technology stocks dragging, followed by bank shares as investors appear less than impressed with the latest earnings reports.

Wells Fargo WFC.N shares are down 4.6% after the fourth-largest U.S. lender missed analysts' profit estimates in the fourth quarter while recording $612 million in severance expenses. The bank, which twice reduced its annual interest income expectations last year, said net interest income — the difference between what it earns on loans and pays on deposits — rose 4% to $12.33 billion in the quarter from a year earlier, but this missed expectations of $12.46 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG.

Shares of Bank of America BAC.N are down 3.7% even after it beat estimates for fourth-quarter profit, as its traders capitalized on volatile markets, while it brought in record income from interest. And Citigroup C.N shares are falling more than 1% after it beat Wall Street profit estimates for its fourth-quarter, buoyed by a rebound in dealmaking and stronger demand for services to corporate clients.

On the data front, the latest readings on retail sales and producer prices did little to shake expectations for interest-rate cuts later this year.

Meanwhile, among the 11 S&P 500 .SPX major sectors, energy .SPNY is up ~2% and leading the pack as oil prices eye a fifth straight session of gains as investors feared Iranian supply disruptions due to a potential U.S. attack on Iran and possible retaliation against U.S. regional interests.

Among the biggest decliners is technology .SPLRCT, down 1.4%, with a number of heavyweights such as Nvidia NVDA.O, Broadcom AVGO.O, and Microsoft MSFT.O falling.

The S&P 500 banking subsector .SPXBK is down more than 2%, eyeing its fourth straight day of declines including a 2.4% drop on Tuesday after investors reacted negatively to JPMorgan's JPM.N kick-off of the fourth-quarter earnings season.

While investors had been waiting anxiously for a potential U.S. Supreme Court ruling on a challenge to Trump's tariff policies, the lack of such a ruling on Wednesday has led to some paring of losses.

Here is your morning snapshot from 10:23 a.m. ET/ 1523 GMT:

(Sinéad Carew, Terence Gabriel)

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EARLIER ON LIVE MARKETS:

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