By Yasin Ebrahim

Investing.com – The S&P 500 rose Friday, but suffered a second-straight losing week following a tech-rout earlier this week, while underwhelming earnings from major Wall Street banks failed to turn the tide.  

The Nasdaq gained 0.6% and the Nasdaq fell 0.56% (201 points).

Three major Wall Street banks, including Citigroup and Wells Fargo (NYSE:), reported higher-than-expected results. However, JPMorgan suffered a 6% slump as its fourth quarter profit dropped, and investors were concerned about increased costs.

JPMorgan stated that it expects expenses to increase by 8% in the coming year. This raises concerns over whether JPMorgan will be able meet its 17% goal for tangible equity return.

Citigroup The shares of (NYSE:) reported a 26% drop in profits. This was accompanied by a wider than expected decline in trading revenues and fixed-income revenue revenue dropping 20% during the fourth quarter. Its shares dropped more than 1%.

Wells Fargo The stock of (NYSE:) rose by more than 3 percent after the bank’s profit increased 86% and provided a positive outlook for loan growth in 2022.

Technology was up, although it ended the week with losses from earlier in the week. The rise in large tech and semiconductor stocks supported the sector.

Apple (NASDAQ 🙂 gained 0.5% on Bloomberg reports that Apple might delay its debut of virtual reality headsets.

The focus was also on casino stocks Las Vegas Sands Wynn Resorts (NASDAQ) and (NYSE) surged in response to Macau, Asia’s gambling capital, that detailed new procedures for operating gambling businesses in the region, which eased uncertainty about the renewals of gaming licenses.

These measures are still to be approved in Macau by the legislature. They would reduce the number of licensed gaming operators to six and shorten the term of licenses from 20 to 10.

After December’s spending decline of 1.9%, signs of wobble among consumers caused a dip in sentiment in retail stocks.

However, the weakness of consumer spending may be a silver lining to inflation.

”On the upside, the current retail weakness will accelerate inventory rebuilding, which should help take the pressure off inflation. It doesn’t necessarily soften the case for a March hike, but it reduces the tail risk of the Fed hiking more than 4 times this year,” Jefferies said in a note.

Boston Beer (NYSE 🙂 has lowered its outlook for annual earnings due to rising supply and cost issues that impeded growth. More than 8% of its shares were lost.