US stocks : Dow up 0.1 pct
US stocks closing: U.S. stocks ended little changed on Friday as investors took a step back from buying ahead of next week's busy corporate earnings calendar.
Overall earnings are expected to grow by just 1.9 percent in this season, according to Thomson Reuters data. Analysts say that, with the bar low, there's room for companies to beat expectations, and that may have contributed to the rise in stocks so far in 2013.
That rally has slowed in the last few days.
"It's a market that is waiting for more of a catalyst from earnings," said Quincy Krosby, market strategist at Prudential Financial in Newark, New Jersey.
The S&P 500 index has gained 5 percent over the last two weeks to take the benchmark to five-year highs.
Wells Fargo & Co set a weak tone Friday after it reported results. It showed lower fourth-quarter net interest margin - a key measure of how much money banks make from loans - even as profit jumped.
The bank, which was the first major financial institution to report results this earnings season, also made fewer mortgage loans than in the third quarter.
Wells Fargo ended down 0.8 percent at $35.10, off its lows for the day, while bank shares weighed on the broader market. The S&P 500 financial sector index fell 0.3 percent after rallying more than 1 percent on Thursday.
Bank of America Corp, JPMorgan Chase & Co and Citigroup Inc are due to report results next week, as are other major companies including General Electric and Intel.
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