WALL STREET Saudi proposal on oil production offers relief

Analysts question how the political climate will affect markets.
NEW YORK (AP) -- Wall Street got a badly needed break from oil price worries, with stocks rising modestly as Saudi Arabia indicated that OPEC should increase its daily output. However, the Dow Jones industrial average finished the week under the 10,000 mark for the first time this year.
Wall Street's preoccupation with skyrocketing oil prices and their effect on inflation was relieved somewhat Friday when Saudi Arabia proposed raising OPEC's production ceiling by more than 2 million barrels a day.
Crude oil futures dropped 87 cents to $39.93 a barrel in late trading.
But analysts cautioned that this is just a proposal and might not be approved when OPEC ministers next meet in June. That tentativeness was reflected by yet another day of very light volume on the major markets.
"I view it as temporary," Ryan Smith, managing director of equity trading at Banc One Investment Advisors in Columbus, said of the oil-inspired rally. "We'll have to wait and see if they follow through."
Closing figures
According to preliminary calculations, the Dow gained 29.10, or 0.3 percent, to 9,966.74. Earlier in the session, the Dow had been up 99 points from Thursday's close.
Broader stock indicators were also moderately higher. The Standard & amp; Poor's 500 index rose 4.40, or 0.4 percent, to 1,093.59, and the Nasdaq composite index was up 15.50, or 0.8 percent, at 1,912.09, breaking past the 1,900 mark for the first time since last Friday.
For the week, the Dow finished 0.5 percent lower and the S & amp;P was down 0.2 percent; the Nasdaq gained 0.4 percent. It was the third straight week of losses for the Dow and S & amp;P 500. The Nasdaq reversed a two-week slide.
It was also the first week the Dow finished below 10,000 since the week that ended Dec. 5, 2003.
Economic indicators
Investors were somewhat more inclined to buy after Thursday's report of a lower-than-expected increase in the Conference Board's Index of Leading Economic Indicators. The report indicated that the economy might not be overheating as much as feared, and Wall Street interpreted that as relieving some of the pressure on the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates.
The change in sentiment allowed investors to react enthusiastically to upbeat earnings reports for the first time in weeks. Wall Street largely had shrugged off companies' solid first-quarter reports last month as investors were fixated on interest rates and the possibility that higher borrowing costs would erode results for the coming quarters.
Still, many analysts are questioning whether Friday's improvement in investor sentiment can be sustained with so many unresolved issues and problems in the United States and overseas.
"Our view is, it's going to be a chaotic market environment until the election in November," said Jason R. Graybill, senior portfolio manager at Abner, Herrman & amp; Brock Asset Management in New York. "Leading into November, we're going to get clarity on a lot of the uncertainties out there.
"The underlying economy is extremely robust. Consumers are spending, businesses are spending, and the government is obviously spending," Graybill said. "But the international political community is kind of waiting to see who our next president is going to be."
Key stocks
Nordstrom Inc. surged $2.67 to $39.90 after beating Wall Street's expectations with first-quarter profits that more than doubled on a 13 percent gain in sales at stores open more than a year.
Gap Inc. was up 7 cents at $22.58 after news that the clothing retailer boosted its first-quarter profits by 54 percent, matching analysts' expectations.
Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc. jumped 75 cents to $9.30 after a government witness at Martha Stewart's trial was charged with perjury over allegedly false statements on the stand, sparking speculation on Wall Street that Stewart's conviction could be reversed.
Automaker General Motors Corp. slipped 38 cents to $43.08 after announcing it will cut 872 jobs at its Saturn plant in Delaware.