Stocks end slightly lower as JPMorgan misses and chip shares slide for a second day

Wall Street asked the big banks to open earnings season and got two different answers, while the chip selloff that began in Asia overnight followed the market into the close.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell nearly 0.4 percent, about 180 points, to finish at 51,670, giving back a morning gain of as much as 0.9 percent. The S and P 500 closed down less than 0.1 percent and the Nasdaq Composite lost 0.2 percent, both off their session lows, as of Tuesday. Caterpillar and Johnson and Johnson weighed on the Dow. All four big bank stocks closed lower, with Citigroup down about 5.5 percent.

JPMorgan Chase reported third quarter net income of 15.3 billion dollars, or 5.57 dollars a share, against a consensus estimate of 5.90 dollars: its first miss in nearly three years, on softer dealmaking and investment securities losses. The bank raised its full year net interest income guidance to about 106.2 billion dollars. Goldman Sachs beat expectations, helped by a sharp rise in stock trading revenue and stronger investment banking fees. Analysts expect S and P 500 earnings for the quarter to grow about 30.6 percent from a year earlier, according to LSEG data cited by Reuters.

The day's other weight was memory. Chip shares fell for a second straight session after Chinese maker CXMT said it will bring a server memory product built on a new structure to market by year end, a claim that hit the South Korean and American firms that dominate the trade. Micron fell nearly 4 percent. In Seoul the Kospi dropped about 6.5 percent on the same news.

Wednesday brings the September inflation report, which a Wall Street Journal poll expects to show prices up 3.6 percent from a year earlier as of October 13, and the Federal Reserve meets on October 28. This report describes market conditions and analyst expectations. It is not financial advice.