Stocks end strong week on flat note

Associated Press

NEW YORK

Stocks ended a strong week on a flat note as lower oil prices and utility stocks offset encouraging economic news.

Still, the market ended Friday with a second-straight weekly gain.

The Dow Jones industrial average closed down 57.32 points, or 0.3 percent, to 16,639.97. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index lost 3.65 points, or 0.2 percent, to 1,948.05 and the Nasdaq composite added 8.26 points, or 0.2 percent, to 4,590.47.

All three indexes finished the week up by 1.5 percent or more. Oil, despite Friday’s decline, was up 3.6 percent for the week.

On Friday the market was buoyed early by a strong rally in overseas stocks triggered by word from China that it would not devalue its currency to make its imports more competitive.

Also, the Commerce Department said U.S. gross domestic product, the broadest measure of economic health, grew at an annual rate of 1 percent in the fourth quarter, an improvement from the first estimate of 0.7 percent. Economists were expecting a reading of 0.4 percent growth.

“We are finally seeing some stabilization in the economic data – durable goods numbers, retail sales, and this second reading on GDP – that will hopefully end this debate on whether the U.S. economy is heading toward recession,” said Quincy Krosby, a market strategist with Prudential Financial.