DJIA up 0.22% (Il Sole 24 Ore Radiocor) - New York, 16 Apr - US shares wavered midday as investors juggled the latest earnings with rising bond yields and jitters over escalating tensions in the Middle East.

Wall Street ended lower yesterday with the Dow racking up its sixth straight day of losses, as Israel signalled it would likely stage a military response to Iran's drone strike over the weekend.

Oil prices inched higher while treasury yields rose to multi-month highs with the US 10-year yield above the key 4.6% mark.

As the earnings season gathers momentum, inflation and interest rates remain a key focus of attention. Investors are keen to see if elevated rates are creating problems for the banking industry after last year's crisis for regional lenders, especially as regards debt relating to commercial real estate.

High rates pressured Bank of America in the first quarter when the banking giant's profits fell 18%, even though they did beat expectations.

Recent sticky inflation data has strengthened convictions the Federal Reserve will have to hold off longer than expected in cutting interest rates and will also have to dial down the number of cuts it makes.

The market will monitor Fed chief Jerome Powell later at an event for comments on where US interest rates may be going in the short and medium term.

On the stocks front, shares in UnitedHealth Group were up 5.7% after first quarter earnings beat expectations. Bank of America retraced early gains to slide more than 5% while Morgan Stanley rose 3.3% after first quarter diluted EPS rose to 2.02 dollars from 1.70 dollars a year earlier.

At 1518 GMT, the Dow Jones was up 82.56 points, or 0.22%, at 37,817.67 points.

The S&P 500 was 7.82 points, or 0.15%, lower at 5,054.00 points.

The Nasdaq was down 5.90 points, or 0.04%, at 15,879.12 points.

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(RADIOCOR) 16-04-24 17:24:37 (0615) 5 NNNN