Stocks ended mixed but mostly higher Friday, with Caterpillar’s lackluster results dragging down the Dow Jones industrial average, while strong earnings from Google led a broader rally.
The Dow tumbled 65.88 points, to 10,215.22, after sinking almost 90 points in morning activity. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index added 1.79, to 1179.59. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index jumped 14.10, to 2082.21.
For the week, the Dow fell 0.7 percent, and the S&P 500 lost 0.6 percent–the third straight weekly decline for both. The Nasdaq rose 0.8 percent.
Friday’s skittish session closed out a turbulent week for Wall Street as troubling economic data renewed fears about inflation, overshadowing mostly positive third-quarter profit reports from the nation’s biggest companies.
Although corporate earnings have so far been favorable, Michael Sheldon, chief investment strategist at Spencer Clarke LLC, said the market is still battling three major headwinds: rising interest rates, inflation and high energy prices.
“Right now, I think the market needs a catalyst in order to get out of this difficult environment,” Sheldon said. “Hopefully, if oil prices continue to decline and move back into the mid-$50s, that could turn sentiment more positive on Wall Street.”
Crude oil lingered below $60 a barrel most of the day following recent government reports indicating U.S. petroleum inventories have been expanding. Oil futures ended the day at $60.63 a barrel, up 61 cents, on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Bonds gained ground, with the yield on the 10-year Treasury note sliding to 4.39 percent from 4.44 percent Thursday.
The dollar was mixed against most major currencies, while gold prices edged lower.
Dow component Caterpillar posted a 34 percent increase in quarterly profit, but the Peoria-based company slashed its full-year outlook because of potential charges and a higher tax rate.
Caterpillar fell $5.11, or 9.5 percent, to $48.92, for the Dow’s biggest drop–accounting for about two-thirds of the index’s slide.
Late Thursday, Google said its profit grew more than sevenfold as revenue nearly doubled from new services that drove traffic during the typically slow summer season. Google surged $36.70, or 12 percent, to $339.90.
