Getty Images Cannabis shares were higher Wednesday ahead of a congressional hearing on the obstacles facing cannabis companies when it comes to opening and maintaining bank accounts. A subcommittee of the Democratic-controlled House Financial Services Committee will meet to hear testimony on the topic at 2 p.m. Eastern time. For now, cannabis companies are unable to hold accounts at federally backed banks, because weed is still subject to a federal ban, another issue that is hampering the...

Bloomberg News The fourth-quarter earnings season will kick off in earnest next week, starting Monday when Citigroup Inc. C, +1.35% offers numbers from the first of the big U.S. banks. JPMorgan Chase & Co. JPM, -0.40% and Wells Fargo & Co. WFC, +0.36% are scheduled to report on Tuesday, followed by Goldman Sachs Group Inc. GS, +0.06% and Bank of America Corp. BAC, +0.78% on Wednesday and Morgan Stanley MS, +0.10% on Thursday. Analysts are expecting a decent set of numbers, given an economy...

Getty Images The third-quarter earnings season kicked off as expected on Friday, with three of the nation’s biggest banks delivering reports that initially impressed, but lost some of their shine as the trading session progressed. That’s a pattern that has frustrated bank stock investors this year, as strong numbers have repeatedly failed to boost stock prices. The Financial Select Sector SDPR Fund XLF, -1.11% has fallen 5.4% in 2018 to date, while the Invesco KBW Bank ETF KBWB, -2.40% has...

MarketWatch photo illustration/Getty Images Goldman Sachs & Co. is aiming to become part of the cryptocurrency trading industry after receiving requests from its clients to facilitate clearing. That’s according to Chief Financial Officer R. Martin Chavez in response to questions on the GS, -1.86% earnings call earlier Wednesday. Chavez said the most interesting facet of the current craze is blockchain technology, “the distributed general ledger that is of great and very broad application...