U.S. stocks are mixed as banks bounce and recession fears ease

Investing.com -- U.S. stocks are mixed on Thursday after large banks passed the Federal Reserve’s annual stress tests.

At 11:01 ET (15:01 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 14 points or 0.1%, while the S&P 500 was down 0.2% and the NASDAQ Composite was up 0.5%.

All 23 banks tested passed the hypothetical stress scenario the Fed tested this year, which included unemployment spiking to 10% and a severe erosion in commercial real estate values. The banks are expected to announce their plans to buy back shares and pay dividends after Friday’s closing bell.

Bank stocks jump after passing stress tests

Shares of Bank of America Corp. (NYSE:BAC) rose 2%, JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) rose 2.4%, Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) rose 3.1%, and Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) rose 2.7%.

Banks may be conservative with their payouts this year as regulators including the Fed consider more capital and supervision rules after the failure this year of several large regional banks.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell said Wednesday that regulators need to learn lessons from those failures. Those remarks come after he told the Senate this month that new rules would likely affect the eight largest banks the most, adding they could face a 20% increase in the amount of capital they are required to hold on their books to guard against shocks.

Fed on watch after stronger than expected economic data

The Fed is also preparing for its next policy meeting in July, with futures markets betting the central bank will raise interest rates by another quarter of a percentage point.

The latest reading of first quarter gross domestic product came in at 2%, which was stronger than the 1.4% expected. Meanwhile, initial jobless claims of 239,000 were slightly lower than expected.

Powell said Wednesday that the Fed could raise rates again this year as it continues to fight inflation. He also said he doesn’t see inflation coming down to the 2% target this year or next year, meaning the Fed will have to remain vigilant in its inflation fight.

Apple nears $3 trillion mark

Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) were inching toward a $3 trillion market value, which would make the iPhone maker the first company to reach that level. The shares closed at another 52-week high on Wednesday and are just shy of the mark.

Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) shares fell 4% after the chipmaker beat estimates for third quarter results.

Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:OXY) shares rose 1% after Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRKa) bought more shares of the oil giant, raising its stake above 25%.