The Dow Jones Industrial Average on Wednesday was getting dragged lower, with a slump in shares of Goldman Sachs Group Inc., and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., serving as the biggest weight on the blue-chip gauge. Goldman was contributing to a roughly 45-point decline in the price-weighted Dow , while shares of J.P. Morgan were subtracting about 12 points from the average. The downturn for bank stocks, which was broad based, came as a batch of reports, including economic activity in Chicago and pending-home sales, were seen as possibly reducing the pace of rate hikes by the Federal Reserve. The market is betting that the Fed will raise rates next month when it holds a policy-setting convention, but another rate hike, as early as September, is being discounted due to the lackluster economic data, some market strategists said. Rate hikes tend to be beneficial for banks’ business models. Meanwhile, the 10-year Treasury yield [BX:TMUBMUSD10Y] has been sliding to a five-week low at 2.20%, also highlighting sliding rates. Comments from J.P. Morgan’s CFO Marianne Lake also provided a headwind for the sector. Lake told investors on Wednesday at an industry conference that trading in the second quarter at the bank was slumping, though she referred to it as seasonally normal, The Wall Street Journal reported. More broadly, the S&P 500 index was down 7 points, or 0.3%, at 2,408, with financials off 1.2%. The Nasdaq Composite Index , which briefly hit an intraday record, was off 23 points, or 0.4%, at 6,179.
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