US STOCKS-Wall Street edges lower after mixed bank earnings, Trump comments

* J.B. Hunt jumps after strong DCS performance
* Banking index marginally down
* Goldman Sachs rises after profit beat
* June retail sales better than expected
* Dow flat, S&P down 0.19%, Nasdaq dips 0.25%

(Updates to early afternoon)
By Medha Singh
July 16 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks were lower on Tuesday as
results from big Wall Street lenders rekindled concerns about
slowing profit growth in a low interest rate environment, while
comments from President Donald Trump on trade also soured the
mood.
JPMorgan Chase & Co JPM.N and Wells Fargo & Co WFC.N
beat quarterly profit estimates but reported weaker net interest
income, pointing to rising deposit costs. "Much of the outlook remains very unclear for the sector,
with falling rates and the potential for further economic
weakness in the United States," said Joshua Mahony, senior
market analyst with IG in London.
JPMorgan was 0.3% higher in volatile trade, while Wells
Fargo slipped 3.1%. Goldman Sachs Group Inc GS.N - the least
rate-sensitive of the three banks that reported results on
Tuesday - was up 1% after posting strong results.
The banking subsector .SPXBK dropped 0.86%, compared with
a 0.34% fall in the S&P 500 financial index .SPSY .
The three indexes moved lower after Trump said there was a
long way to go with China on trade and threatened to put tariffs
on another $325 billion of Chinese goods. "In a really quiet market, a headline like this has a
magnified effect, so even if it's not something investors don't
already know, it can move the market with ease," said Michael
Antonelli, managing director, institutional sales trading at
Robert W. Baird in Milwaukee.
But stocks pared most of those losses after Federal Reserve
Chair Jerome Powell reiterated pledges to "act as appropriate"
to keep the U.S. economy humming. Investors will focus on the impact of U.S.-China trade
tensions on second-quarter earnings. Profit at S&P 500 companies
is estimated to dip 0.1%, which would be the first quarterly
drop in three years, according to Refinitiv IBES data.
J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc JBHT.O jumped 6%, the
biggest gainer on the benchmark S&P 500, after the trucking
company posted strong quarterly performance in its second
largest unit DCS, which provides final-mile delivery.
That helped lift the Dow Jones transport index .DJT 2.1%
higher and aided a 0.77% rise in industrials .SPLRCI , one of
the five major S&P sectors in positive territory.
At 13:14 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI
was up 6.13 points, or 0.02%, at 27,365.29, the S&P 500 .SPX
was down 5.66 points, or 0.19%, at 3,008.64 and the Nasdaq
Composite .IXIC was down 20.98 points, or 0.25%, at 8,237.21.
Johnson & Johnson JNJ.N slipped 1.3% after the diversified
healthcare company warned that competition from generic and
copycat drugs could impact its third-quarter results.
Economic data was a bright spot. A better-than-expected June
retail sales report pointed to strong consumer spending. The
data did not change the expectations of a rate cut this month,
but lowered hopes of an aggressive cut. Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.09-to-1 ratio
on the NYSE and by a 1.03-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded 53 new 52-week highs and one new low,
while the Nasdaq recorded 67 new highs and 56 new lows.