U.S. stocks open lower on worse-than-expected big bank earnings

U.S. stocks opened slightly lower on Thursday, as investors assessed quarterly earnings from big banks.

Bank of America reported Thursday quarterly net income of 2.7 billion U.S. dollars, or 21 cents per diluted share, worse than expectations.

Wells Fargo posted quarterly net income of 5.5 billion dollars, compared with 5.8 billion dollars in the first quarter of 2015. Its diluted earnings per share were 99 cents, compared with 1.04 dollars in the same period last year. Shares of Wells Fargo edged down 0.33 percent in early Thursday.

On the economic front, the Consumer Price Index for all urban consumers increase 0.1 percent in March on a seasonally adjusted basis, the U.S. Labor Department said Thursday. The index for all items less food and energy inched up 0.1 percent in March after rising 0.3 percent in February.

In a separate report, in the week ending April 9, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 253,000, a decrease of 13,000 from the previous week's revised level.

Shortly after the opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average ticked down 1.51 points, or 0.01 percent, to 17,906.77. The S&P 500 lost 1.40 points, or 0.07 percent, to 2,081.02. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 7.63 points, or 0.15 percent, to 4,939.79. Endi