Roundup: U.S. stocks extend losses for 4th straight day

U.S. stocks continued to drop Wednesday amid mixed earnings of American banks, soft data and concerns about global economy.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 186.59 points, or 1.06 percent, to 17,427.09. The S&P 500 fell 11.76 points, or 0.58 percent, to 2,011.27. The Nasdaq Composite Index dipped 22.18 points, or 0.48 percent, to 4,639.32.

JPMorgan Chase & Co., the largest U.S. bank by assets, posted Wednesday net income of 4.9 billion U.S. dollars for the fourth quarter, or 1.19 dollars per diluted share, down from 5.3 billion dollars, or 1.30 dollars per share, in the fourth quarter of 2013. The company's results were hurt by expensive legal costs. In response, its shares slumped 3.45 percent to 56.81 dollars apiece.

Shares of Wells Fargo, the biggest U.S. mortgage lender, fell 1. 16 percent to 51.25 dollars apiece after the company delivered quarterly earnings in line with market expectations.

The somber start of U.S. banks'earnings sent financial stocks lower. The financials sector decreased 1.42 percent Wednesday, the biggest laggard among the S&P 500's 10 sectors.

On the economic front, U.S. retail and food services sales lost 0.9 percent in December on a seasonally adjusted basis, the biggest decline since January 2014, said the U.S. Commerce Department. The drop was much bigger than analysts' expectations.

Separately, the Commerce Department said U.S. business inventories were up 0.2 percent in November from October, lower than market consensus of 0.3 percent.

"A weak finish for fourth quarter retail sales suggests consumers may not be quite as happy about lower gas prices as thought," said Chris Low, chief economist at FTN Financial, in a note.

Additionally, the price index for U.S. imports fell 2.5 percent in December, the biggest decline in six years, the U.S. Labor Department said. Meanwhile, export prices dropped 1.2 percent last month.

Dampening investor sentiment, the World Bank lowered its global economy growth forecasts for 2014 and 2015 Tuesday. In its latest flagship report Global Economic Prospects, the World Bank projected the global economy to grow 2.6 percent in 2014 and 3 percent in 2015, down 0.2 percentage point and 0.4 percentage point respectively from its June forecasts.

Overseas markets saw a broad-based decline Wednesday following the World Bank report.

However, the Federal Reserve's Beige Book released Wednesday afternoon soothed anxious investors to some extent and helped the three major indices recoup part of their losses to come off session lows.

The report showed that the world's largest economy continued to expand during the reporting period of mid-November through late December, with most Districts reporting a "modest" or "moderate" pace of growth.

A strong rebound in oil prices also provided some upward jolts to the stock market.

Despite rising U.S. crude inventories last week, light, sweet crude for February delivery surged 5.6 percent to settle at 48.48 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange as traders bought the dip.

The CBOE Volatility Index, often referred to as Wall Street's fear gauge, rose 4.47 percent to end at 21.48.

In other markets, the dollar decreased against most major currencies on negative economic data from the country.

In late New York trading, the euro moved up to 1.1778 dollars from 1.1764 dollars in the previous session. The greenback bought 117.30 Japanese yen, lower than 117.73 yen of the previous session.

Gold futures on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange rose for a fourth session in a row on Wednesday as a poor retail sales report drove down U.S. stocks and the U.S. dollar.

The most active gold contract for February delivery rose 0.1 dollars, or 0.01 percent, to settle at 1,234.50 dollars per ounce. Endite