By Akane Otani and Ben St. Clair

U.S. stocks inched lower Friday, ending the week little changed, as White House comments on monetary policy sent the dollar and government bond prices sliding.

Major indexes struggled to break higher throughout the week as investors parsed dozens of earnings reports and rebukes from President Donald Trump on Federal Reserve policy.

A White House official told CNBC that Mr. Trump was worried the Fed would raise interest rates twice more this year. The comments came after Mr. Trump had earlier Friday said China and the European Union were "manipulating their currencies and interest rates lower" and on Thursday criticized the Fed for raising interest rates -- departing from the convention presidents have followed of not commenting on monetary policy.

Mr. Trump's comments were unusual since "the Fed's independence has traditionally been one of the most cherished aspects of central banking, " said Brian Nick, chief investment strategist at Nuveen.

But so far, Mr. Nick and other analysts say they aren't worried.

"It's pretty clear that [Fed Chair] Jerome Powell is running the show," he said.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 6.38 points, or less than 0.1%, to 25058.12 on Friday, rising 0.2% for the week. The S&P 500 fell 2.66 points, or 0.1%, to 2801.83 and added less than 0.1% for the week, while the Nasdaq Composite edged down 5.10 points, or less than 0.1%, to 7820.20 and advanced less than 0.1% for the week.

The WSJ Dollar Index, which measures the dollar against a basket of 16 currencies, was recently down 0.7% near a four-day low, while U.S. Treasurys weakened. The yield on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note settled at 2.895% versus 2.845% Thursday. Bond yields rise as prices fall.

Even as uncertainty around trade and monetary policy has weighed on the markets this year, analysts and investors say upbeat earnings and economic data are helping them remain cautiously optimistic.

S&P 500 firms are on track to report their second fastest pace of earnings growth since 2010 for the second quarter, according to FactSet, pointing to sustained momentum in the U.S. even as growth elsewhere around the world has faltered.

Microsoft jumped $1.87, or 1.8%, to $106.27 after reporting Thursday that its annual revenue topped $100 billion for the first time thanks to gains in its cloud business, while Honeywell International rose 5.59, or 3.8%, to 153.13 after boosting its sales guidance.

"The economy is in a good spot. The market is in a good spot," said JJ Kinahan, chief market strategist at TD Ameritrade. "Overall we're where we want to be."

Elsewhere, the Stoxx Europe 600 dropped 0.1%, although it logged its third consecutive weekly gain.

The Shanghai Composite Index rose Friday but posted its eighth weekly decline in nine as the Chinese yuan slipped against the dollar.

Write to Akane Otani at akane.otani@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 20, 2018 17:09 ET (21:09 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2018 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.