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Stocks went flat on Friday, as investors took a breather from the previous day's record-breaking close and despite upbeat earnings reports from banking giants Wells Fargo and JPMorgan.
Still, major averages were poised to close sharply higher for the week.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average, which surged over 1 percent on Thursday, ticked slightly lower and was 24 points down in early afternoon trading. The blue-chip index has been trading in a narrow 50-point range.
The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq were narrowly mixed. The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX), widely considered the best gauge of fear in the market, traded near 14.
Among key S&P sectors, financials led the gainers, while industrials slipped. Boeing tumbled about 6 percent to lead the Dow laggards, suffering its worst one-day drop in nearly two years, after a fire aboard an Ethiopian 787 Dreamliner at London's Heathrow Airport. Earlier, the stocks had hit an all-time high at $108.15 a share.
JPMorgan Chase edged higher after the Dow component and the largest U.S. bank by deposits beat expectations on both revenue and earnings. The company reported profit of $1.60 a share against estimates of $1.44, while revenue came in at $25.96 billion vs. expectations of $2.84 billion.
Wells Fargo also gained after the financial company topped the Street on both ends, posting earnings of 98 cents a share against expectations of 93 cents, and revenue of $21.4 billion against $21.21 billion estimates.
They were the first major U.S. banks to report second-quarter earnings, setting the tone for the rest of the sector which will issue results throughout next week. Earnings expectations for JPMorgan in particular were high, as the bank has beaten analyst estimates in 12 of its last 13 earnings reports.
On the economic front, producer prices gained 0.8 percent in June, according to the Labor Department, edging past expectations for 0.5 percent. Core producer prices, which exclude volatile energy and food costs, edged up 0.2 percent.
Meanwhile, Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers' preliminary July consumer sentiment index fell to 83.9 from the final June figure of 84.1. Economists in a Reuters survey expected a preliminary July sentiment index reading of 85.0 compared with 84.1 in the final June report.
Major averages soared more than 1 percent on Thursday, with the Dow and S&P 500 closing at record highs, boosted by Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke's reassurance that the central bank would keep its stimulus policies in place for some time.
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In conjunction with the equity rally, bond yields have continued their retreat. The benchmark 10-year Treasury note most recently yielded 2.54 percent, a 0.19 percentage point decline since its most recent high July 5. The U.S. dollar, however, stiffened against its global competitors, rising past the 1.30 mark against the euro.
(Read More:After the Fed, Here's Who Can Save the Markets)
European shares pared their earlier gains to close slightly lower, after posting four days of successive gains. Meanwhile, the yield on Portugal's benchmark government bonds surged, following demands for a renegotiation of its bailout program.
And shares in Asia traded cautiously ahead of Chinese growth data next week.
China is expected to post second-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) numbers on Monday, after a slew of disappointing trade and manufacturing reports. Investors' nerves were piqued on Friday by reports that the Chinese finance minister was forecasting annual growth of only 7 percent, below the country's official growth target of 7.5 percent.
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"We see no hard landing but rather steady growth. Our 7.7 percent GDP forecast is based on a stronger consumption component, making up for the slowdown in investment," wrote Steve Wang, research director at Reorient Markets, in a note.
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