The Dow Jones index fell 0.42% to 33,886.47 points, the tech-dominated Nasdaq lost 0.35% to 12,123.47 points and the S&P 500 fell 0.21% to 4,137.64 points.
However, the flagship index posted its fourth positive week in a row.
Several major U.S. banks on Friday unveiled comfortable results for the first quarter thanks in particular to the rise in interest rates, seeming to have avoided the contagion of the turmoil that shook regional banks in early March.
The banking sector was one of the few to conclude in the green (+0.96%) on Wall Street.
At the same time, several indicators of activity published Friday in the United States have cooled investors, including retail sales in March which fell by 1%, more than expected.
"Retail sales were weak and disappointing," mainly due to lower gasoline costs but also a decline in auto sales, said Chris Low of FHN Financial.
Another index of mixed activity last month was industrial production.
It rose to +0.4%, more than expected, but it was only because of heating demand that boosted the public services production index while that of manufacturing production fell by 0.5%.
Finally, the University of Michigan released its first estimate of U.S. consumer confidence for April.
While this improved to 63.5 points (+2.4%), consumers' expectations for the evolution of inflation worsened. They now see the price increase reaching 4.6% this year while they had hoped for 3.6% last month.
Despite these negative signs, one of the governors of the Federal Reserve (Fed), Christopher Waller, has argued strongly for one or more additional interest rate hikes.
"The labour market remains strong and quite tight, and inflation is well above target, so monetary policy needs to be tightened further," Waller said.
In the bond market, yields on two-year Treasury bonds rose above 4% to 4.09% at 20:30 GMT against 3.96% the day before. Ten-year years climbed to 3.51% from 3.44% on Thursday.
On the banking results side, JPMorgan Chase soared (+7.55% to 138.73 dollars) after announcing for the first quarter an increase in its net profit on record turnover, thanks to more remunerative interest rates.
Citigroup climbed 4.78 percent after reporting better-than-expected first-quarter results, also benefiting from higher interest rates.
Goldman Sachs was dragged up (+1.44%).
Health insurance group United Health saw its stock fall 2.74% despite an increase in revenue and net earnings per share in the first quarter. Another insurance group, Travelers, also fell 2.79%.
The big names in "tech" have experienced mixed fortunes, Microsoft giving up 1.28% while Alphabet (Google) advanced 1.17%.
Elsewhere on the stock exchange, the aircraft manufacturer Boeing, slowed the Dow Jones, dropping 5.56% to 201.71 dollars.
The aircraft manufacturer warned Thursday that deliveries of its flagship aircraft, the medium-haul 737 MAX, would be temporarily disrupted for quality problems on parts supplied by Spirit Aerosystems. The supplier's stock fell more than 20%.
© 2023 AFP