U.S. stocks are mixed as investors soak in bank earnings reports

investing.com:

Investing.com — U.S. stocks are mixed as investors took in earnings reports from Bank of America, Morgan Stanley , and other big financial firms.

At 9:39 ET (13:39 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 57 points or 0.2%, while the S&P 500 was down less than 0.1% and the NASDAQ Composite fell 0.4%.

Bank of America Corp. (NYSE:BAC) reported a 20% gain in second quarter profit, while Morgan Stanley's (NYSE:MS) profit fell 18% largely because of a slump in deal-making on Wall Street. Bank of America shares rose 2.4%, while Morgan Stanley rose 2.8%.

PNC Financial Services Group (NYSE:PNC) shares rose 0.8% after it cut its forecast for net interest income this year. Brokerage giant Charles Schwab Corp. (NYSE:SCHW) reported better-than-expected second quarter profit and revenue, and shares rose more than 12%.

Financial stocks have been under pressure this year after the failure of three large banks in the spring, caught by rising interest rates and a customer run on deposits.

In other earnings, defense contractor Lockheed Martin Corporation (NYSE:LMT) raised its annual profit and sales forecasts on demand for military equipment. Shares rose 1.4%.

Stocks are rising after reports on consumer and producer prices in June showed inflation is cooling faster than expected, stoking hopes that the Federal Reserve could arrive at the end of its interest rate increases sooner rather than later. The Fed is widely expected to raise interest rates another quarter of a percentage point later this month.

On Tuesday, data on retail sales for June came in slightly weaker than expected, rising 1.49% in June compared with expectations for a 1.6% gain over last year. For the month, retail sales rose 0.2% compared with expectations for a 0.5%