Traders work the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.
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Stocks rose slightly Friday as traders parsed through the first batch of fourth-quarter earnings while they digested the second in a pair of closely watched inflation reports this week.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average traded 31 points higher, or less than 0.1%. The S&P 500 gained 0.4%, and the Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.5%.
Delta Air Lines fell more than 6% even after posting better-than-expected earnings for the fourth quarter.
A slew of big banks also reported earnings before the bell on Friday. Bank of America lost 1% after posting declining fourth-quarter profit, while Wells Fargo shares shed more than 1.5% despite posting a higher profit for the quarterly period.
Citigroup, meanwhile, gained nearly 2% despite posting a $1.8 billion quarterly loss after incurring several large charges. Shares of JPMorgan Chase also rose, gaining more than 1.5% even after the bank said its earnings slipped by 15% from a year earlier.
The moves follow a muted day on Wall Street. The 30-stock Dow inched up by around 15 points, while the S&P 500 finished marginally lower. The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite closed at its flat line.
Investors got some encouraging news on inflation Friday with wholesale prices unexpectedly declining by 0.1% in December. The data follows the more widely followed consumer prices data Thursday, which came in modestly hotter than economists had forecasted, with prices up 0.3% on the month and 3.4% from a year ago.
“PPI affirms that December’s pickup in the CPI was likely a one-off,” said Bill Adams, chief economist for Comerica Bank. “The path continues to clear for the Fed to begin cutting interest rates in 2024 and to slow the pace at which they shrink their balance sheet.”
On the week, the major averages are heading for modest gains. The Dow is up about 0.7%, while the S&P 500 is tracking for a 2.2% advance. The Nasdaq is the outperformer, up more than 3.5% through Thursday’s close.
