NEW YORK, Jan. 12 (Xinhua) -- U.S. stocks ended mixed on Friday, as major bank earnings reports failed to ignite momentum for a strong quarterly earnings season.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by 118.04 points, or 0.31 percent, to 37,592.98. The S&P 500 added 3.59 points, or 0.08 percent, to 4,783.83. The Nasdaq Composite Index increased by 2.58 points, or 0.02 percent, to 14,972.76.

Seven of the 11 primary S&P 500 sectors ended in green, with energy and real estate leading the gainers by adding 1.26 percent and 0.78 percent, respectively. Meanwhile, consumer discretionary and health led the laggards by dropping 1.05 percent and 0.29 percent, respectively.

Bank of America saw its shares dip 1.06 percent after reporting a decline in fourth-quarter profit. Wells Fargo issued a warning of a 7-9 percent drop in net interest income for 2024, leading to a 3.34-percent plunge in its stock price.

Despite reporting a 1.8 billion U.S. dollars fourth-quarter loss, Citigroup's shares rose 1.04 percent following the announcement of planned job cuts and cautious optimism about the future. JPMorgan Chase delivered the strongest performance, recording its best annual profits ever and exceeding analysts' expectations for 2024 interest income, resulting in a modest 0.73-percent dip for its stock.

United Airlines led the airline slump, with its stock price nosediving by more than 10 percent after the company announced a revised earnings forecast below analysts' expectations. American Airlines and Delta, despite exceeding estimates, also suffered share price declines of around 9 percent as investors reacted to Delta's trimmed 2024 outlook.

The Producer Price Index released on Friday, which tracks wholesale prices paid to businesses, surprised economists by falling 0.1 percent month on month in December 2023, in comparison with consensus expectation of mild expansion. This contrasted with the Consumer Price Index, which rose 0.3 percent in the month from the previous month and 3.4 percent from a year ago, slightly exceeding forecasts.

"It's a little bit of reversal of some of the strong trends and rallies from Q4, but I think markets are in wait-and-see mode for inflation, but also what's going to happen with earnings season ... the drivers of 2024, like any year, will be earnings growth and valuation expansion," said Mona Mahajan, senior investment strategist of Edward Jones. Enditem

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