Equity Alert
US mkt up Fri led by bank stocks; US-China trade concerns ease
This story was originally published at 08:22 IST on 20 October 2025
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Equity Alert: US mkt up Fri led by bank stocks; US-China trade concerns ease
MUMBAI--0756 IST--Stock indices in the US ended higher Friday after President Donald Trump said his proposed plan of 100% tariff on Chinese goods would not be sustainable. Shares of regional banks, which had led the US market decline on Thursday, gained on Friday as traders bet that any bad credit bets by banks were a one-off event and not part of a bigger crisis.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent Friday said he expects to meet Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng in Malaysia later this week to try forestalling an increase in US tariffs on Chinese goods, which would be effective Nov. 1. Trump said the 100% tariff on goods from China he had threatened in response to the latter tightening its rare-earth export rules would not be sustainable. The US president, however, blamed Beijing for the impasse in trade talks.
"We've seen this movie before... a week ago, US President Trump was talking 100% tariffs and the market had its worst sell-off in months and now today he's clearly putting some water on that fire, saying he and President Xi have a good relationship," Ryan Detrick, chief market strategist, Carson Group, Omaha, was quoted by Reuters as saying.
US' regional banking stocks rebounded Friday after a sell-off in the previous session when Zions Bancorporation disclosed unexpected losses tied to two commercial and industrial loans and Western Alliance had said it initiated a lawsuit alleging fraud by Cantor Group. Shares of Zions Bancorp climbed almost 6% Friday after receiving an upgrade from Baird, which said the drop in market value for the regional bank was out of proportion to the size of loan losses it was potentially facing, according to a CNBC report. Investment bank Jefferies, which had also closed lower in Thursday's sell-off, ended 6% higher after Oppenheimer and Co. raised its rating on the stock to 'outperform'.
"We don't think there are systemic credit problems for banks – most of what we're seeing so far is a function of a few specific situations (First Brands and TriColor) while credit quality broadly, if anything is tracking better than anticipated," Adam Crisafulli of Vital Knowledge was quoted by CNBC as saying. Strong earnings reports by JPMorgan and other big banks kickstarted the earnings season on a positive note.
Shares of Truist Financial Corp. were up almost 4?ter the bank reported its financial results. Fifth Third Bancorp's stock rose over 1%. On the other hand, shares of State Street dropped more than 1?ter the bank's net interest income for the latest quarter missed estimates. Shares of drugmaker Eli Lilly ended 2% lower after President Trump said he would bring down prices of weight-loss drugs.
Following are the closing levels of US indices Friday:
|
Index |
Level |
Change in % |
|
S&P 500 |
6664.01 |
0.53 |
|
NASDAQ Composite |
22679.98 |
0.52 |
|
Dow Jones Industrial Average |
46190.61 |
0.52 |
(Eshitva Prakash)
End
US$1 = INR 87.98
IST, or Indian Standard Time, is five-and-a-half hours ahead of GMT
Edited by Nishant Maher
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