Bank stocks declined Tuesday on light volume and little news.
The KBW Bank Index closed down 0.74%.
"It's a very quiet day, and investors are waiting for fresh data points on earnings," said James Bradshaw, an analyst at Bridge City Capital LLC in Portland, Ore. "I generally think that second-quarter earnings are going to be miserable, due to loan-loss provisions and (Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.) special assessments."
"Analysts are looking for some confirmation that maybe this will be the bottom, but I'm not sure at this point," Bradshaw added.
Gainers included JPMorgan Chase & Co., up 0.6%; Marshall & Ilsley Corp., 1.6%, and Comerica Inc., 0.6%.
KeyCorp rose 4.1% after analysts at KBW Inc.'s Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Inc. upgraded the Cleveland company's stock from "market perform" to "outperform."
Decliners included PNC Financial Services Group Inc., off 0.3%; U.S. Bancorp, 1%; SunTrust Banks Inc., 1%, and Citigroup Inc., down 10 cents, to $2.69 a share.
Bank of America Corp. remained unchanged from Monday's close, at $12.15.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 1.94%, and the Standard & Poor's 500 index was down 1.97%.
