US stocks higher but bank shares fall

US stocks opened modestly higher Thursday but Boeing continued to drop and bank shares were lower after fresh earnings reports from Bank of America and Citigroup.

Thirty minutes into trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 35.16 points (0.26 percent) at 13,546.39.

The broad-based S&P 500 gained 4.56 (0.31 percent) at 1,477.19, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rose 13.20 (0.42 percent) to 3,130.74.

Bank of America fell 3.7 percent after the company reported fourth-quarter earnings that were sharply lower than the year-ago period, heavily dented by writeoffs related to settlements linked to its mortgage business.

Citigroup lost 2.8 percent on its earnings disappointment, also hit by mortgage business charges.

Added to the earnings picture from JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs on Wednesday, the results showed no great improvement in the industry.

Patrick O'Hare of Briefing.com said the financial firms "by and large" were reporting in line with expectations, but "showed little, if any, expansion in net interest margins."

Boeing shares lost another 1.0 percent after its 787 was grounded around the world for safety inspections.

But shares in other sectors generally gained. EBay added 2.5 percent after beating fourth-quarter earning estimates and saying its mobile business was surging.

Media group CBS surged 11.4 percent helped by an upgrade from Wedbush analysts after it said it would sell off its international outdoor advertising business and convert its domestic outdoor advertising operations into a real estate investment trust.

Bond prices fell. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury rose to 1.87 percent from 1.82 percent late Wednesday. The 30-year yield moved to 3.06 percent from 3.02 percent.

Bond prices and yields move inversely.