By Yashaswini Swamynathan
(Reuters) - U.S. stocks were little changed on Thursday as investors weighed earnings from the top Wall Street banks and President Donald Trump's comments on the strength of the dollar.
Shares of JPMorgan and Citigroup rose about 1 percent after the two banks reported better-than-expected quarterly profits.
However, Wells Fargo slipped 1.4 percent after reporting a big drop in mortgage banking revenue and Berkshire Hathaway's disclosure that it had reduced its stake in the bank.
The earnings come in the wake of a frenetic rally in bank shares that started after Trump's election as U.S. president on hopes that he would rein in banking regulations and introduce other business friendly policies.
The S&P 500 financial index was up 0.2 percent. Bank of America and Goldman Sachs, which are due to report results next week, were also up.
At 11:04 a.m. EDT (1504 GMT) the Dow Jones industrial average was up 6.58 points, or 0.03 percent, at 20,598.44, the S&P 500 was up 2.22 points, or 0.09 percent, at 2,347.15 and the Nasdaq Composite was up 18.15 points, or 0.31 percent, at 5,854.31.
President Donald Trump told the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday that the dollar "was getting too strong" and that he would like to see interest rates stay low.
However, the impact of the comments was short-lived as the beaten down dollar recovered slightly and gold prices lost some of their luster after gaining for four straight days.
"Despite the rhetoric that comes out of any political event, if you have good economic data and decent earnings, (the market will) overcome the day-to-day dynamics of macro policy and political risk," said Nathan Thooft, senior portfolio manager at Manulife Asset Management in Boston Massachusetts.
Five of the 11 major S&P 500 sectors were higher, led by technology, which rose for the first time after a nine-day losing streak.
Trading volumes are likely to be weak on Thursday ahead of the Good Friday holiday.
Declining issues outnumbered advancers on the NYSE by 1,360 to 1,351. On the Nasdaq, 1,332 issues rose and 1,258 fell.
The S&P 500 index showed three 52-week highs and no lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 18 highs and 37 lows.
(Reporting by Yashaswini Swamynathan in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva)
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