NEW YORK (AP) - U.S. stocks gave up large gains and finished barely higher Friday. Banks and technology companies traded higher, while stocks that pay large dividends fell thanks to a jump in bond yields.
Stocks were on track for large gains early in the day as reports showed consumers in both the U.S. and China appeared to be spending more. Banks rose after JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup disclosed solid quarterly results. However, the gains faded as the day wore on. Drug company stocks continued to fall and energy companies slipped.
"The retail sales numbers on the surface looked pretty good but when you dig into them they were not that great," said Mike Baele, managing director at U.S. Bank's Private Client Reserve. "It seems like every good report we get, we get an offsetting weaker report."
The Dow Jones industrial average, which had jumped as much as 162 points in the morning, finished up 39.44 points, or 0.2 percent, at 18,138.38. The Standard & Poor's 500 inched up 0.43 points to 2,132.98. The Nasdaq composite gained 0.83 points to 5,214.16.
Goldman Sachs was responsible for most of the Dow's gains. It rose $3.10, or 1.9 percent, to $170.52 after Britain's High Court threw out a $1 billion lawsuit against the company. Libya's sovereign wealth fund had accused Goldman Sachs of duping the fund into making risky deals.