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By Kristina Cooke
NEW YORK, April 15 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks edged higher on
Tuesday as record oil prices helped the energy sector and
better-than-expected quarterly results at several U.S. regional
banks boosted shares of financial shares.
The regional banks, including U.S. Bancorp <USB.N> and
Regions Financial Corp <RF.N>, expressed confidence they could
withstand soaring credit losses as the nation's housing market
and economy slump. The S&P financials index <.GSPF> was up 0.9
percent by early afternoon.
Crude oil prices hit a record $113.93 a barrel, lifting the
shares of energy companies, including Chevron <CVX.N> which
rose 1 percent to $90.16.
"Sentiment has been pretty negative, but its improved a bit
today as you had a few decent earnings reports this morning,"
said Michael James, senior trader at regional investment bank
Wedbush Morgan in Los Angeles.
"The financials are a bit oversold so we're seeing a bounce
there, and there's also an expectation JPMorgan's earnings will
be good tomorrow."
The Dow Jones industrial average <> was up 44.61
points, or 0.36 percent, at 12,346.67. The Standard & Poor's
500 Index <.SPX> was up 4.00 points, or 0.30 percent, at
1,332.32. The Nasdaq Composite Index <> was up 7.52
points, or 0.33 percent, at 2,283.34.
First-quarter profit exceeded forecasts at U.S. Bancorp,
Regions Financial, M&T Bank Corp <MTB.N> and Marshall & Ilsley
Corp <MI.N>. U.S. Bancorp operates mainly west of the
Mississippi River, Regions in the Southeast, M&T in
mid-Atlantic states, and Marshall & Ilsley in Wisconsin and
several other states.
Results contrasted with the unexpected loss posted Monday
by Wachovia Corp <WB.N>, the nation's fourth-largest bank, and
financial services firm State Street Corp <STT.N>, which said
on Tuesday it faces billions of dollars of unrealized portfolio
losses.
Regions Financial Corp shares jumped 9 percent to $20.22,
M&T Bank Corp <MTB.N> climbed 5.2 percent to $84.94 and U.S.
Bancorp rose 0.5 percent to $31.85.
In contrast, State Street's stock dropped 7.1 percent to
$71.40 on the New York Stock Exchange.
Shares of JPMorgan Chase <JPM.N>, which reports earnings on
Wednesday, were up 1.9 percent at $42.30.
Earlier in the day, the New York Federal Reserve Bank's
Empire State manufacturing index showed some stabilization in
April after tumbling to a record low in March, according to an
index compiled by the New York Fed.
The Labor Department's overall Producer Price Index jumped
1.1 percent in March -- or nearly twice the gain of 0.6 percent
that economists had expected. But the core PPI, which excludes
volatile food and energy prices, rose 0.2 percent last month,
in line with economists' expectations.
(Editing by Tom Hals)
