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Wall St dips as JP Morgan drags

Friday, March 15 16:36:07

U.S. stocks dipped today, weighed by a decline in JPMorgan Chase after a one-two punch of bad news for the bank, though the S and P 500 remained in sight of record levels.

The S and P 500 was roughly 4 points away from its record closing high after failing to end above that level on Thursday.

Friday morning's dip also brought the Dow's 10-day winning streak to an end. Still, investors could use the pause to consolidate bets before pushing the market higher again, said Cam Albright, director of asset allocation at Wilmington Trust Investment Advisors, in Wilmington, Delaware.

"I don't think that one or two days' movement is really going to change the underlying momentum of this market, which I still think is pretty strong at this point," Albright said.

JPMorgan was the biggest drag on both the Dow and S&P 500, falling 2 percent to $49.98.

The Federal Reserve told JPMorgan Chase and Co and Goldman Sachs Group Inc that they must fix flaws in how they determine capital payouts to shareholders, though it still approved their plans for share buybacks and dividends.

A Senate report alleged that JPMorgan had ignored risks, misled investors, fought with regulators and tried to work around rules as it dealt with mushrooming losses in a derivatives portfolio. A former top JPMorgan official told lawmakers on Friday she was not to blame for the losses.

In contrast, Goldman shares recovered from early weakness to gain 0.6 percent to $154.94. The stock of rival Bank of America rose 3.2 percent to $12.50. The S and P financial sector index edged up 0.1 percent.

The Dow Jones industrial average slipped 26.59 points, or 0.18 percent, to 14,512.39. The Standard and Poor's 500 Index edged down 2.15 points, or 0.14 percent, at 1,561.08. The Nasdaq Composite Index fell 6.38 points, or 0.20 percent, to 3,252.55.