NEW YORK - US stocks ended mixed on Tuesday as investors digested the kickoff of third-quarter earnings season from Wall Street's banking giants.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 202.88 points, or 0.44 percent, to 46,270.46. The S&P 500 sank 10.41 points, or 0.16 percent, to 6,644.31. The Nasdaq Composite Index shed 172.91 points, or 0.76 percent, to close at 22,521.70.

Eight of the 11 primary S&P 500 sectors ended higher, with consumer staples and industrials leading the gainers by rising 1.72 percent and 1.17 percent, respectively. Technology and consumer discretionary led the laggards by dropping 1.59 percent and 0.26 percent, respectively.

On Wall Street, major banks reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings. JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and Wells Fargo all beat estimates before the bell.

However, JPMorgan shares fell 1.9 percent after CEO Jamie Dimon cautioned about "uncertainty stemming from complex geopolitical conditions, tariffs and trade uncertainty, elevated asset prices and the risk of sticky inflation." Wells Fargo jumped 7.2 percent to lead S&P 500 gainers, while Citigroup rose 3.9 percent and Goldman Sachs slipped 2 percent.

Blue-chip names such as Walmart, Caterpillar and American Express lifted the Dow, climbing roughly 5 percent, 4.5 percent, and 3 percent, respectively.

US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said Tuesday that the outlook for employment and inflation remains largely unchanged since September's policy meeting. However, he acknowledged that "the downside risks to employment appear to have risen."

"I will stress again that these projections should be understood as representing a range of potential outcomes whose probabilities evolve as new information informs our meeting-by-meeting approach to policymaking," he said.

Powell added that the ongoing government shutdown, which has delayed key economic data such as the jobs report, could soon make policy decisions more challenging if it continues into mid-October.