NEW YORK (CNN/Money) -
U.S. stocks closed little changed Friday, at the end of an upbeat week for Wall Street and an unusually strong October.
Next week brings the start of November, a month that is traditionally one of the best for the market. But it may be slow-going in the first week as investors wade through a slew of influential economic reports and a few remaining key earnings reports.
On Friday, the Dow Jones industrial average (up 14.51 to 9801.12, Charts) and the Standard & Poor's 500 (up 3.77 to 1050.71, Charts) index both closed fractionally higher, and the Nasdaq composite (down 0.48 to 1932.21, Charts) closed just below breakeven.
Stocks are up for the week following a strong rally Tuesday on the heels of the Federal Reserve's decision to keep the federal funds rate steady at 1 percent, a 42-year low, and signal that it would keep rates unchanged for some time. Stock gains were also supported by a number of multibillion-dollar merger deals announced early in the week, highlighted by Bank of America's (BAC: up $0.56 to $75.73, Research, Estimates) $47 billion purchase of FleetBoston Financial (FBF: up $0.29 to $40.39, Research, Estimates).
But in the past few sessions, the major indexes have been fairly rangebound, with investors playing it cautiously as the reporting period for quarterly earnings nears a close. The Dow is trading not far from its best levels of 2003, which was a new 17-month high. The Nasdaq is also near its best close of 2003, which was a new 21-month high. The S&P 500 just narrowly managed to close with a new 17-month high, closing at its best level since May 31, 2002.
Despite the small movement Friday, this week's early gains were sufficient to send the Dow up 2.3 percent, the Nasdaq up 3.6 percent and the S&P 500 up 2.1 percent on the week.
Anticipation that earnings would be strong sent stocks higher in early October, and although the subsequent weeks have been less buoyant, the major indexes are nonetheless up sharply for the month. In October, the Dow gained 5.7 percent, the S&P 500 gained 5.5 percent and the Nasdaq gained 8.1 percent. October is normally one of the market's worst months, according to the Stock Trader's Almanac.
"The news has been pretty good on the economic front, but there's a hesitancy to move higher in the short term," said Peter Cardillo, director of research at Global Partners Securities. "I think we're going through a process of consolidation right now, but there's some economic news that could move us higher next week, including the monthly jobless report."
Monday brings earnings from Kellogg (K: down $0.26 to $33.13, Research, Estimates) and Charter Communications (CHTR: down $0.02 to $4.27, Research, Estimates) in the pre-market.
Later in the week, earnings are due from Cisco (CSCO: up $0.07 to $20.93, Research, Estimates), Qualcomm (QCOM: down $0.53 to $47.49, Research, Estimates), XM Satellite Radio (XMSR: up $0.36 to $20.25, Research, Estimates) and nVidia (NVDA: down $0.26 to $17.68, Research, Estimates), among others.
The most market-moving economic report Monday is likely the Institute for Supply Management's October reading on manufacturing, forecast to come in at 55.8, according to Briefing.com, up from 53.7 last month. Auto and truck sales and construction spending are also due.
For a more detailed look at the week ahead, click here.
On the move
Among the stock movers, two initial public offerings (IPOs) did well in their first day of trading.
Shares of First Marblehead (FMD: Research, Estimates) rallied 38.4 percent on the NYSE, adding $6.15 to close at $22.15. The educational financial services firm priced 12.5 million shares late Thursday at $16 each, the middle of its expected range.
Shares of Overnite (OVNT: Research, Estimates) rallied 16.6 percent, gaining $3.16 to close at $22.16. The trucking company priced 25 million shares late Thursday at $19 per share, at the high end of its expected range.
Sun Microsystems' (SUNW: up $0.22 to $3.95, Research, Estimates) shares rose 5.9 percent and topped the Nasdaq's most-actives list on no new news.
Shares of health insurer Cigna (CI: up $9.08 to $57.05, Research, Estimates) rallied 18.9 percent after reporting earnings that beat estimates and grew from a year earlier.
Skyworks Solutions (SWKS: down $2.16 to $8.58, Research, Estimates) fell 20.1 percent after the wireless chip maker reported a fiscal fourth-quarter loss late Thursday that was wider than a year earlier but narrower than expected. The company also issued in-line fourth-quarter guidance. However, with a number of its rivals offering more bullish forecasts, investors chose to sell the stock. Additionally, CIBC World Markets downgraded it to "sector perform" from "sector outperform."
CV Therapeutics (CVTX: down $4.82 to $17.70, Research, Estimates) shares also fell 21.7 percent in active Nasdaq trade after U.S. regulators said that they need more information before they can approve the drug developer's chronic angina treatment.
Market breadth was mixed. On the New York Stock Exchange, advancers beat decliners by almost 9 to 7 as 1.43 billion shares traded. On the Nasdaq, losers edged winners by a narrow margin as 1.80 billion shares changed hands.
Economic news mixed
Released before the open Friday, a report showed personal income edged up 0.3 percent in September after rising a revised 0.3 percent in August, higher than the 0.2 percent increase economists surveyed by Briefing.com were expecting. However, personal spending edged down 0.3 percent in September after rising a revised 1.1 percent in August. Economists expected it to fall 0.1 percent, according to Briefing.com.
Spending overall in the third quarter rose 6.6 percent, according to figures released Thursday. Gross domestic product grew at a much faster-than-expected 7.2 percent annual rate, the government said Thursday.
Released just after the start of trading, the final reading on consumer sentiment in October from the University of Michigan was revised upward to 89.6 from a preliminary read of 89.4 and up from 87.7 in September. Economists were expecting 89.5.
In addition, Chicago PMI, a regional manufacturing survey, rose to 55 in October from 51.2 last month, just below the 55.4 economists were expecting.
Treasury prices gained, with the 10-year note yield slipping to 4.29 percent from 4.34 percent late Thursday. The dollar gained against the yen and the euro.
NYMEX light crude oil futures rose 64 cents to settle at $29.11 a barrel. COMEX gold rose 20 cents to settle at $384.60 an ounce.
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