U.S. stocks on Friday finished barely higher as an early rise, buoyed by gains in bank shares, faded into the close. The three main stock benchmarks finished the week with a second-straight weekly loss. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended up 0.2% at 18,138, closing well of its highs of the session, the S&P 500 index wrapped up little-changed at 2,132 and the Nasdaq Composite Index was flat at 5,214. Better-than-expected quarterly results from the likes of J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. delivered an initial jolt to the banking sector and the broader market, with strength in J.P. Morgan’s trading unit hinting at a possibly solid quarter for trading powerhouse Goldman Sachs Group . Goldman’s rise led gains for the Dow industrials. Goldman is set to report its results Oct. 18. Although financial institutions set an upbeat tone, Wells Fargo & Co.’s fake-account scandal overshadowed its solid results. Comments from Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen midday Friday, where she suggested the fed could overshoot its 2% inflation target, and a strengthening dollar , up 0.6%, helped to limit gains for U.S. equities. For the week, the Dow closed off 0.6%, the S&P 500 ended with a weekly loss of 1% and the Nasdaq Composite closed off 1.5%. Meanwhile, the buck ended up 3% on the week. A rising dollar can be viewed as a headwind for multinational companies, which rely on selling goods abroad.
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