Morning Market Roundup: Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Up, & Wholesale Prices Up

Here’s what’s important in the business world this morning:

Wells Fargo: Wells Fargo is reporting higher earnings and revenue for the third quarter, thanks to higher fees a rise in trading revenue.

The bank's net income applicable to common shareholders rose 23 percent to $4.72 billion from $3.84 billion in the same period a year earlier.

That amounts to 88 cents per share, a cent higher than the estimate of analysts polled by FactSet. Revenue rose 8 percent to $21.21 billion, slightly lower than analysts expected.

Wells, based in San Francisco, expanded its loan book by offering more loans to consumers. Corporate loans shrank modestly.

Wells is more confident that its loans will be repaid. It released $200 million that it had set aside earlier to cover possible loan losses.

The stock fell 2 percent in pre-market trading Friday to $34.44.

JPMorgan: JPMorgan Chase, the country's biggest bank, reported a record quarterly profit Friday, helped by a surge in mortgage refinancing. CEO Jamie Dimon said he believed the housing market "has turned a corner."

The bank made $5.3 billion from July through September, up 36 percent from the same period a year ago. It worked out to $1.40 per share, blowing away the $1.21 predicted by analysts polled by FactSet, a provider of financial data.

Revenue rose 6 percent to $25.9 billion, beating expectations of $24.4 billion. Earnings were also helped because the bank set aside less money for bad loans - $1.8 billion, down 26 percent from a year ago.

Revenue from mortgage loans shot up 29 percent. About three-quarters of that was from people refinancing, rather than buying new homes. Low interest rates and government help encouraged homeowners to refinance.

Wholesale Prices: A second month of sharp gains in gasoline costs drove wholesale prices higher in September. But outside of the surge in energy, prices were well contained.

Wholesale prices rose 1.1 percent in September following a 1.7 percent gain in August which had been the largest one-month increase in more than three years, the Labor Department said Friday.

In both months, overall prices were pushed higher by gasoline, which rose 9.8 percent in September following an even larger 13.6 percent gain in August.

Core prices, which exclude food and energy, were unchanged in September, the best showing since they held steady in October 2011. In August, core prices rose 0.2 percent.

Food prices, which had jumped 0.9 percent in August, showed a smaller 0.2 percent rise in September.

U.S. Futures: Stock futures are edging higher after mixed third-quarter results from two major banks, which has been the pattern all week as the U.S. earnings season kicks off.

Futures appear to be suggesting a weekly decline, however, as economic headwinds in both Europe and Asia weigh on U.S. indexes.

Dow Jones industrial futures are up 38 points to 13,303. The broader S&P futures have tacked on 5 points to 1,433.40. Nasdaq futures are up 6.25 points to 2,719.50.

The nation's largest bank, JPMorgan Chase, posted record quarterly profit Friday and blew away Wall Street expectations. Wells Fargo just edged out profit expectations, but revenue fell short and its shares slid 2 percent in premarket trading.

This week saw mixed results from U.S. corporations like Alcoa, Safeway and Yum Brands.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.