Stock Market Records Small Losses

The U.S. equity market was lower on Friday to end the week. A number of leading money center banks reported earnings prior to the opening bell, with the results dragging down sentiment. Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) fell 2.64 percent and JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) lost a little more than 1 percent after both banks reported quarterly results. The Dow Jones Industrial Average moved up a little more than 2 points to 13,329. The S&P 500, however, which is a broader indicator of market performance, fell 0.30 percent to just below 1,429. The SPDR S&P 500 ETF (NYSE: SPY) lost 0.33 percent and closed at $142.89. Volume was average with around 120.6 million SPY shares trading hands. The PowerShares QQQ Trust ETF (NASDAQ: QQQ), which tracks the performance of the Nasdaq 100, lost 0.04 percent to $66.68. The broader Nasdaq Composite fell 0.17 percent. Crude oil fell on Friday. NYMEX crude futures registered a decline of 0.54 percent to $91.57. Brent crude contracts lost 0.96 percent to $114.60. The United States Oil Fund ETF (NYSE: USO) fell 0.85 percent and closed at $34.00. Precious metals were also lower on the day. COMEX gold futures lost 0.84 percent to $1,755.80 while silver fell 1.65 percent to close the week at $33.52. The heavily traded SPDR Gold Trust ETF (NYSE: GLD) recorded a loss of 0.74 percent and closed at $170.05. For the third day in a row, money moved into U.S. Treasuries as investors worry about a deeper pullback in equities. The iShares Barclays 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF (NYSE: TLT) added 0.25 percent to $123.97. The yield on the 10-Year Note fell 1.2 basis points to 1.66 percent. The U.S. dollar was slightly lower on the day. The PowerShares DB US Dollar Index Bullish ETF (NYSE: UUP), which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of foreign currencies, fell 0.14 percent to $21.83. The closely watched EUR/USD pair was last trading up 0.22 percent to $1.2957.