US stocks trade mixed as earnings season begins, but indexes eke out weekly gains

• US stocks were mixed Friday as earnings season began, but indexes notched weekly wins after last week's losses.
• Wholesale inflation data was subdued, reinforcing hopes for Fed rate cuts.
• Bitcoin sank almost 5%, while Red Sea tensions pushed oil prices up.

US stocks finished mixed on Friday as fourth-quarter earnings began rolling out, but indexes still notched weekly gains.

JPMorgan booked a bigger annual profit than any US bank in history, while Citigroup, Bank of America and Wells Fargo also reported results.

Meanwhile, the producer price index came in cooler than expected, deepening rate cut convictions. Traders are pricing in a 74% chance that the Fed will cut rates in March, according to the CME FedWatch Tool.

"On the one hand, until more progress is made on rental inflation, it is hard to argue that inflation is on a sustainable path back down to the Fed's target," analysts from Deutsche Bank said in a Friday note. "On the other, core PCE, which is what the Fed targets, seems to be normalizing faster than expected and could argue for bringing forward rate cuts in order to prevent real rates from becoming more restrictive."

Bitcoin tanked almost 5% to dip below $44,000. Oil prices continued to edge up as US and UK airstrikes on Houthi targets added more volatility to the region.

Here's where US indexes stood at the 4 p.m. closing bell on Friday: 

• S&P 500: 4,783.83, up 0.08%
• Dow Jones Industrial Average: 37,592.98, down 0.31% (118.04 points)
• Nasdaq Composite: 14,972.76, up 0.02%

Here's what else is going on:

• Bitcoin is for people who want to pretend they're in Vegas, Goldman Sachs Wealth Management strategy chief said.
• The idea that $6 trillion in money market funds will boost the stock market is "bullish propaganda," Ned Davis Research said.
• Don't worry about US debt because household wealth is four times bigger, a former Fed economist said.
• BlackRock chief Larry Fink said crypto ETFs are "stepping stones to tokenization."
• "Shark Tank" star Kevin O'Leary said he would never buy a bitcoin ETF.
• Fed data shows that Americans are missing credit card payments at the highest rate in a decade.

In commodities, bonds, and crypto: 

• Oil prices rose, with West Texas Intermediate up 1.07% to $72.79 a barrel. Brent crude, the international benchmark, jumped $1.28% to 78.40 a barrel.
• Gold climbed 1.58% to $2,051.20 per ounce.
• The 10-year Treasury yield fell 1.9 basis points to 3.956%.
• Bitcoin sank 4.91% to $43,952.