Banks Open Earnings Season as Stocks Slide; Oil Drops, Gold Edges Lower

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U.S. stocks fell at the opening bell Tuesday, with the Dow down 379 points (-0.82%) to 45,688.1, the S&P 500 off 0.95% to 6,591.80, and the Nasdaq lower by 1.38% to 22,380.8. Small caps weakened as the Russell 2000 slipped 1.23% to 241.41. In commodities, crude oil retreated 1.95% to $58.33 while gold eased 0.22% to $4,124.10.

Early trading centered on Wall Street’s biggest banks which opened the reporting slate with broadly solid third-quarter results. Goldman Sachs posted $4.1 billion in net income (+37% year over year) on $15.18 billion of revenue (+20%), powered by a 42% jump in investment-banking fees to $2.7 billion and firmer trading (FICC +17% to $3.47 billion). CEO David Solomon credited “the strength of our client franchise and continued recovery in capital markets,” adding that the quarter “demonstrates both resilience and the power of our diversified business model.”

Wells Fargo delivered a cleaner credit picture: provision for losses fell to $681 million from $1.01 billion in Q2 as management guided net interest income to $12.4–$12.5 billion for the fourth quarter and said 2025 NII should track roughly in line with 2024. CEO Charlie Scharf pointed to “broad-based growth across both our consumer and commercial businesses,” a message investors often prize when margins are compressing across the sector.

At JPMorgan Chase , scale and trading heft remained the calling cards. The bank recorded $14.4 billion of net income and $47.1 billion of managed revenue (+9%), highlighted by record Markets revenue of $8.9 billion (+25%). Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon called the quarter “strong,” but cautioned about a “heightened degree of uncertainty stemming from complex geopolitical conditions, tariffs and trade uncertainty, elevated asset prices, and the risk of sticky inflation.” The firm’s ROE was 17% and CET1 14.8%, with $12.1 billion returned to shareholders.

Despite the beats, the broader tape opened risk-off. Falling oil—down nearly 2%—can pressure energy shares, while a softer gold price hints at limited haven bid even as equities sag. For bank stocks, the mix of resilient fee income (IB/trading, wealth) and steadier but slower NII remains the theme: investors will parse balance-sheet quality and expense discipline as managements navigate a late-cycle backdrop flagged by JPMorgan and echoed in Goldman’s capital-markets-driven rebound.