U.S. stocks posted mixed results in the week ending Oct. 19 as investors continued to grapple with interest hikes while digesting a batch of economic data.

For the week, the Dow and the S&P 500 advanced 0.41 percent and 0.02 percent, respectively, while the Nasdaq declined 0.63 percent.

The stock market has been under pressure since the beginning of October. The Dow and S&P 500 have fallen more than 3 percent each in October, while the Nasdaq is down more than 7 percent.

As the earnings season kicked off, investors have hoped the strong results would help recover from some of the steep sell-off.

Procter & Gamble stock surged 8.8 percent on Friday after the U.S. consumer-products giant posted earnings of 1.12 U.S. dollars per share, beating Wall Street estimates.

PayPal, American Express and Skechers reported their earnings on Thursday, which exceeded analyst expectations. Their shares rose 9.42 percent, 3.78 percent and 13.78 percent, respectively, at Friday's market closing.

With more than 15 percent of S&P 500 companies having reported, 83 percent have topped analyst expectations, according to FactSet.

Expectations for this earnings season are high. Analysts polled by FactSet expect third-quarter S&P 500 earnings to have grown by 19 percent.

For investors, this Tuesday was a day to celebrate, with all the three major indices advancing more than 2 percent, the best day since March, boosted by the strong quarterly results from major U.S. companies.

However, the optimism underpinned by the solid earnings somewhat offset the fears over the rising interest rates.

The market closed sharply lower on Thursday amid the higher bond yields. The two-year U.S. bond yield rose to its highest level in more than a decade, breaking above 2.9 percent in early trading. The benchmark 10-year note yield also hit as high as 3.21 percent before retreating.

The rising bond rates came one day after the Federal Reserve released the minutes from its September meeting.

The minutes released on Wednesday afternoon showed that the central bank remains convinced it needs to tighten monetary policy to keep the economy steady.

Wall Street was anxious that the climbing of borrowing costs could slow down the economy.

The downside of the market may continue as concerns over geopolitical tensions and a potential slowdown in the global economy linger, experts noted.

Wall Street also paid close attention to a slew of nearly released economic data.

The U.S. total existing-home sales, which are completed transactions that include single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops, fell 3.4 percent from August to a seasonally adjusted rate of 5.15 million in September, according to the National Association of Realtors on Friday.

The reading was also the lowest existing home sales level since November 2015, due to rising interest rates and increasing home prices, said the filing.

In the week ending Oct. 13, the number of U.S. initial jobless claims was 210,000, a decrease of 5,000 from the previous week's revised level, the Labor Department reported Thursday.

On other economic data, the Philadelphia Fed manufacturing index fell to 22.2 in October from 22.9 in September. A reading above zero indicates improving conditions.

U.S. privately-owned housing starts in September were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,201,000, the Department of Commerce reported Wednesday. The reading fell 5.3 percent from the previous rate, more than expected.