1st LD Writethru: U.S. stocks slide for 5th consecutive session

U.S. stocks continued losses for a fifth session Thursday, as investors were sifting through disappointing earnings from U.S. banks, economic data and a soaring Swiss franc after its cap against the euro was scrapped.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 106.38 points, or 0.61 percent, to 17,320.71. The S&P 500 lost 18.60 points, or 0.92 percent, to 1,992.67. The Nasdaq Composite Index shed 68.50 points, or 1.48 percent, to 4,570.82.

Early Thursday, Citigroup Inc. reported net income of 350 million U.S. dollars for the fourth quarter of 2014, or 0.06 dollar per diluted share, down sharply from the year-ago net income of 2.5 billion dollars, or 0.77 dollar per diluted share.

The bank said legal and related expenses and repositioning charges totaled 3.5 billion dollars in the current quarter, compared with 1 billion dollars in the prior year period.

Meanwhile, Bank of America Corp. said its net income for the fourth quarter of 2014 was 3.1 billion U.S. dollars, or 0.25 dollar per diluted share, down from 3.4 billion dollars, or 0.29 dollar per share, in the fourth quarter of 2013.

The two companies' quarterly results were well below market estimates. In response, Citigroup shares sank 3.71 percent to 47. 23 dollars apiece and Bank of American shares plunged 5.24 percent to 15.20 dollars apiece.

U.S. banks' fourth-quarter earnings started with a somber tone after JPMorgan Chase reported Wednesday a 6.6-percent drop in fourth-quarter profits due to expensive legal expenses.

Latest data from Thomson Reuters showed that S&P 500 companies' per-share earnings in the fourth quarter are expected to grow 3.5 percent year-over-year, while revenue is forecast to increase 0.9 percent.

U.S. stocks found little support from downbeat economic data. The number of Americans who initially applied for jobless benefits in the week ending Jan. 10 increased 19,000 to 316,000 from the previous week's revised level, the U.S. Labor Department said Thursday.

Separately, the department said the U.S. Producer Price Index for final demand fell 0.3 percent in December on a seasonally adjusted basis.

Moreover, oil prices retreated sharply from the previous session's big rally amid ample supplies, with light, sweet crude for February delivery diving 2.23 dollars to settle at 46.25 dollars a barrel.

Early Thursday, the Swiss National Bank surprisingly announced to remove its minimum exchange rate of Swiss franc 1.20 per euro, leading the Swiss franc to surge to a high level against the euro.

However, overseas markets rallied broadly Thursday. European shares rebounded strongly after a volatile trading day following action from the Swiss National Bank. Asian equities also witnessed big gains with Chinese benchmark Shanghai Composite Index soaring 3.54 percent. Endite