U.S. stocks open mixed with financials in focus; Dow dips 0.1%

Investing.com - U.S. stock markets were mixed to modestly higher after the open on Wednesday, as concerns over the euro zone’s sovereign debt crisis continued to weigh on sentiment, while financials were in focus following earnings from heavyweights Goldman Sachs and Bank of New York.

During early U.S. trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 0.1%, the S&P 500 index added 0.1%, while the Nasdaq Composite index gained 0.35%.

Market sentiment weakened as initial optimism over a report that the International Monetary Fund planned to boost its lending capacity to USD1 trillion faded.

Sources said the IMF needs to raise up to USD600 billion in new funds to lend to countries struggling with the fallout from the euro zone’s debt crisis. Initial reports called for the IMF seeking USD1 trillion.

Meanwhile, Greece’s government was due to resume talks with its bond holders to discuss a voluntary write-down on Greece’s sovereign debt, after talks broke down on Friday, amid disagreements over how much money investors will lose by swapping their bonds.

Financials were in focus as a slew of lenders reported earnings results before the opening bell. Wall Street investment bank Goldman Sachs saw shares gain 1.8% as its fourth quarter earnings beat analyst expectations, despite seeing a 57% drop in fourth quarter profit.

But shares in Bank of New York Mellon dropped 4.5% after reporting fourth quarter net income fell by a larger-than-expected 26% to USD500 million on 5.6% lower revenue.

PNC Financial Services slumped 4.1% after the lender reported a decline in both fourth quarter net income and revenue.

Meanwhile, Yahoo saw shares gain 2.75% on news that co-founder Jerry Yang was leaving the company. Yang also resigned from the board of Yahoo! Japan as well as from Chinese Internet major Alibaba Group, fuelling speculation that Yahoo will sell off its Asian assets.

In the retail sector, Target saw shares drop 1.55% after saying that it would suspend its efforts to sell its portfolio of credit-card receivables. The retailer said it would restart the talks later this year with a "limited number" of potential partners.

Online retail giant eBay slumpe1.6% as investors readjusted positions in the stock ahead of the company’s fourth quarter earnings report due out after Wednesday’s closing bell.

Across the Atlantic, European stock markets were mixed in choppy trade. The EURO STOXX 50 dipped 0.15%, France’s CAC 40 declined 0.1%, Germany's DAX added 0.25%, while London’s FTSE 100 retreated 0.1%.

Earlier in the day, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said that PPI declined by a seasonally adjusted 0.1% in December, confounding expectations for a 0.1% gain, bringing the annualized rate to 4.8%.

But core PPI, which excludes the volatile food and energy categories, rose 0.3% in December, taking the annualized rate of increase to 3.0%, the fastest increase since June 2009.

A separate report showed that industrial production in the U.S. rose less-than-expected in December, while the previous month’s figure was downwardly revised to show a bigger decline.