Wells Fargo's profit beat analysts' expectations in the third quarter, helped by resilience in wealth management and lower provisions for credit losses, which sent its shares up 3.5% before the bell on Friday.

Earnings season kicks off in earnest Friday with the first results from major banks: JPMorgan and Wells Fargo. MarketWatch will be breaking down the expectations and results.

The first batch of the biggest U.S. lenders’ quarterly earnings reflected two realities of an economy that is on solid footing but just starting to exit a period of decades-high interest rates: Consumer spending is holding up,