The KBW Bank Index spent most of Thursday in negative territory as investors cashed in gains from Wednesday's rally.
"It's a slight pullback from yesterday's strong run," said Matthew Shields, a trader at FIG Partners LLC. The index rose 4.26% Wednesday.
Shares rose in afternoon trading Thursday but closed down 0.16%.
JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s shares fell 0.4%. The company said Thursday that its second-quarter net income rose 36%, to $2.72 billion, or 28 cents a share, beating the average analyst estimate by 24 cents. However, its loan-loss provision rose 36% from a year earlier, to $8 billion.
Other decliners included Bank of America Corp., 1.9%; Wells Fargo & Co., 1%; PNC Financial Services Group Inc., 0.4%; U.S. Bancorp, 0.1%; KeyCorp, 1.7%; Fifth Third Bancorp, 1.2%; and Citigroup Inc., which fell 14 cents, to $3.03.
Gainers included SunTrust Banks Inc., 0.5%, Zions Bancorp., 0.7%, and Valley National Bancorp in Wayne, N.J., which rose 0.1%.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 1.11% and the Standard & Poor's 500 rose 0.86%.
The Department of Labor said Thursday that initial unemployment claims for the week that ended July 11 fell 8.3% from the prior week, to 522,000. Economists on average had expected claims to rise to around 575,000.