NEW YORK, July 14 (Reuters) – The S&P 500 edged slightly lower on Friday, with banking and financial stocks mostly lower on the day after quarterly reports kicked off the earnings season, but all three major U.S. stock indexes posted solid weekly gains.
Offsetting some declines, shares of UnitedHealth Group ( UNH.N ) continued to rally with stronger-than-expected results.
Shares of JPMorgan Chase ( JPM.N ) rose 0.6% and Wells Fargo ( WFC.N ) fell 0.3%, while the S&P 500 Banks Index ( .SPXBK ) fell 0.9%. Both big banks posted higher quarterly profits but said they had set aside more cash for expected losses on commercial real estate loans.
The biggest drags on the benchmark index were the energy sector ( .SPNY ), down 2.8% and financials ( .SPSY ), down 0.7%.
Shares of UnitedHealth rose 7.2%, helping the Dow finish higher. Shares of other health insurers also advanced, with Humana ( HUM.N ) up 2.5% and Cigna ( CI.N ) up 4.7%.
“We’ve had a significant rally year to date, and that’s a better-than-expected return,” said Oliver Pursche, senior vice president and consultant for Wealthspire Advisors in Westport, Connecticut.
“What we’re seeing now and will continue to see through the end of the summer is a bit of fatigue and a lack of confidence that stocks can go materially higher.”
Today’s quarterly reports unofficially kick off the second quarter US earnings season. Analysts had expected S&P 500 earnings to fall 8.1% in the quarter from a year earlier, but most companies tended to beat expectations, according to Refintiiv data.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI) rose 113.89 points, or 0.33%, to 34,509.03, the S&P 500 (.SPX) lost 4.62 points, or 0.10%, to 4,505.42 and the Nasdaq added 0.18%, to 14,113.70.
For the week, the Dow rose 2.3%, the S&P 500 rose 2.4% and the Nasdaq rose 3.3%. The S&P 500 is up 17% year to date.
In other financial company reports, Citigroup ( CN ) shares fell 4% after the lender’s quarterly profit fell, while BlackRock ( BLK.N ) fell 1.5% after posting a drop in quarterly revenue.
Some strategists said banking stocks may have sold off following recent strong gains.
The S&P Banks Index snapped a five-session winning streak with the KBW Regional Bank Index (.KRX) down 1.9% on the day.
An index of high-tech stocks ( .NYFANG ) fell a day after posting a record high.
Tesla ( TSLA.O ), whose shares rose 1.3% ahead of earnings expected on Wednesday, was among the top growth companies.
Volume on US exchanges was 10.72 billion shares, compared to the full session’s average of 11.04 billion over the last 20 trading days.
Declining issues outweigh advancing issues at a 2.73-to-1 ratio on the NYSE; On the Nasdaq, a 2.33-to-1 ratio favored decliners.
S&P 500 hits 40 new 52-week highs and 4 new lows; The Nasdaq Composite posted 97 new highs and 60 new lows.
Reporting by Carolyn Valetkevich; Additional reporting by Johan M Cherian and Bansari Mayur Kamdar in Bangalore; Editing by Soumyatheb Chakraborty, Sriraj Kalluvila, Maju Samuel, Vinay Dwivedi and David Gregorio
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