Stocks flat to slightly lower as investors weigh bank earnings, retail sales

Stocks traded flat to slightly lower after the opening bell Friday as investors weighed strong earnings from major banks and a weaker-than-expected 1% fall in March retail sales. The Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA,
-0.48%
fell 26 points, or 0.1%, while the S&P 500
SPX,
-0.25%
shed 0.1% and the Nasdaq Composite
COMP,
-0.50%
lost 0.4%. Shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co.
JPM,
+7.61%
jumped 4.9% as the banking behemoth kicked off first-quarter earnings season with better-than-expected results. Analysts said strong bank earnings might reassure the Federal Reserve it can press ahead with further rate increases as it weighs the fallout from a spate of regional bank collapses last month.