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Indexes: Dow up 0.70%, S&P 500 up 0.19%, Nasdaq down 0.22%

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Wells Fargo ( WFC ) advances on Q3 profit beat

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Citigroup ( C/PN ) profit climbs on record revenue

(Updates with late-morning trading)

By Sukriti Gupta and Twesha Dikshit

Oct 14 (Reuters) -

The S&P 500 and Dow rose on Tuesday, shaking off a weak

start, as investors digested Federal Reserve Chair Jerome

Powell's comments, while parsing mostly positive third-quarter

results from big U.S. banks.

Powell

said

the U.S. labor market remained mired in its low-hiring,

low-firing doldrums through September, though the economy

overall "may be on a somewhat firmer trajectory than expected."

He also said the central bank may soon end its balance sheet

runoff.

The remarks reassured investors at a time when key

economic data remains delayed due to the ongoing government

shutdown.

"The bulls remain fully in charge and until that's

shaken with something more significant than these comments from

Chair Powell or anything else, that's likely to be the case into

the start of third-quarter tech earnings next week," said

Michael James, equity sales trader at Rosenblatt Securities in

Los Angeles.

A slew of major lenders

reported

solid results on strong performance in the investment

banking segment, helping the S&P 500 banking index rise

1.6%.

Wells Fargo ( WFC ) advanced 7.6% and was on track for

its best day in six months and Citigroup ( C/PN ) added 4.3% after

both lenders beat estimates for third-quarter profit.

JPMorgan Chase ( JPM ) raised its full-year forecast for

net interest income and Goldman Sachs ( GS )

beat Wall Street expectations

for quarterly profit. However, shares of both JPMorgan ( JPM ) and

Goldman Sachs ( GS ), which have outperformed most rivals this year,

fell 1.4% and 1.6%.

BlackRock's ( BLK )

hit a record

$13.46 trillion, lifting its shares by 2.2%.

"You have a lot of positive momentum in the markets from

a technical standpoint, but then fundamentally you have the

earnings season going on right now and people are very positive

on the U.S. companies' earnings outlooks," said Michael

Matousek, head trader at U.S. Global Investors.

At 12:58 p.m. the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose

309.37 points, or 0.67%, to 46,378.46, the S&P 500 gained

12.63 points, or 0.19%, to 6,667.35 and the Nasdaq Composite

lost 50.73 points, or 0.22%, to 22,643.88.

The S&P 500 tech sector dropped 1.1%, with

losses in Nvidia ( NVDA ) and Broadcom ( AVGO ) weighing on the

Nasdaq.

Defensive plays led gains, with consumer staples

and utilities adding 1.2% each, signaling

investors were treading with caution.

Gains in industrials stocks supported the Dow.

Caterpillar ( CAT ) rose 3.7% after J.P. Morgan raised its price

target on the stock.

Wall Street kicked off the session lower on concerns

over Washington and Beijing's move to slap tit-for-tat

additional port fees on ocean shipping firms.

Global equities were shaken on Friday after Trump

threatened 100% tariffs on Chinese goods over Beijing's rare

earths curbs, though a softened tone over the weekend helped

calm investor nerves and lift markets on Monday.

Additionally, the International Monetary Fund

edged up

its 2025 global growth forecast on tariff shocks and

financial conditions being more benign than expected, while

warning that a renewed U.S.-China trade war could slow output

significantly.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.72-to-1

ratio on the NYSE and by a 1.46-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P 500 posted 15 new 52-week highs and 10 new lows,

while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 75 new highs and 89 new

lows.