NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Tech declines dragged the Nasdaq composite to its lowest level of the year Friday as oil prices jumped to another record closing high.

Blue chips and the broader market ended mixed Friday but stocks overall took a beating for the second straight week, as investors worried about oil and another jump in long-term interest rates.

"The market has been choppy because it's trying to figure out where oil prices are going to go, how fast interest rates will rise, and what these two things mean for corporate profits," said Vince Farrell, chairman at Victory Capital Management. "It's going to remain choppy until it gets more clarity."

The Nasdaq composite (down 8.63 to 2,007.79, Charts) fell about 0.4 percent, closing at its lowest point since Nov. 3, 2004.

The Dow Jones industrial average (up 3.32 to 10,629.67, Charts) and the broader Standard & Poor's 500 (down 0.56 to 1,189.65, Charts) index both ended little changed.

Volume was heavy due to the expiration of stock and index futures and options and because Standard & Poor's reweighted the stocks in its indexes, including the S&P 500.

Treasury bond prices slipped. The dollar gained versus other currencies for the second session in a row. Gold ended little changed.

Next week brings a renewed focus on interest rates and inflation, with reports due early in the week on producer prices and consumer prices. In addition, the Federal Reserve's next monetary policy meeting is Tuesday, and the central bank is widely expected to boost interest rates by a quarter percentage point.

But what will be of greater interest to inflation-minded investors is what the Fed says in its statement about the pace of rates in the future. Specifically, whether the word "measured" is removed from the segment discussing the pace of raising rates. (For more on this, click here.)

"Everyone expects that Mr. Greenspan is going to eventually drop the word measured, so as to prepare the market for upping rate hikes at a faster pace in the future," Farrell added. "That's going to be the key next week, whether he takes the word out or not."

Stocks meandered Thursday as oil prices touched record trading highs before retreating by the close. Investors watched oil closely again Friday.

U.S. light crude oil for April delivery rose 32 cents to settle at $56.72 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, a new all-time closing high.

"Oil continues to dominate trade, with crude at or near the highs," said Joe Sunderman, market analyst at Schaeffer's Investment Research. "Worries remain about how high prices over the long term will impact consumer spending, the economy and interest rates."

(For more on oil and the economy, click here).

As for why the tech-heavy Nasdaq continues to have a tougher time than the other major gauges, Sunderman said that it is related to investors wanting to be in industrial stocks, and/or those that are dividend paying, rather than tech, many of which don't pay dividends.

He said concerns also remain that tech stocks have gotten too expensive relative to other sectors, and during a time when investors are worried about inflation and higher interest rates, they don't want the stocks that are more pricey.

Tech and telecom stocks were weak, with investors continuing to take money out of last year's big winners and put it into other sectors or other assets.

Oracle (down $0.62 to $12.54, Research) fell 4.7 percent. Late Thursday, the software maker said that its chief financial officer has resigned. Separately, it raised its unsolicited bid for Retek, which has already agreed to a buyout offer from European software company SAP.

palmOne (down $1.90 to $22.15, Research) slumped almost 8 percent after warning late Thursday that earnings and revenue would miss estimates in its fiscal fourth quarter.

RadioShack (down $3.11 to $24.60, Research) slumped 11 percent after warning for the second time in a month that first-quarter earnings won't meet estimates, due to slower cell phone sales, among other factors.

On the upside, Apple Computer (up $0.71 to $42.96, Research) rose modestly after Morgan Stanley upgraded it to "overweight" from "equal weight," according to Reuters.

Intel (unchanged at $23.41, Research) was unchanged, despite an upgrade from Deutsche Securities. The brokerage boosted its rating on the No. 1 computer chip maker to "buy" from "hold," due to the erosion the stock has suffered.

Adobe Systems (up $3.92 to $67.81, Research) also rose, after reporting earnings late Thursday that topped estimates. The maker of Acrobat and other software also forecast that second-quarter results would top estimates.

Citigroup (down $0.39 to $46.85, Research) slid 0.8 percent after the Federal Reserve told the nation's biggest financial services company late Thursday to delay big takeover plans until it resolves regulatory issues.

American International Group (down $1.04 to $59.76, Research) fell for the second session, losing 1.7 percent amid continued worries about its accounting after the recent departure of CEO Maurice "Hank" Greenberg.

Dow gainers included Exxon Mobil (up $1.16 to $62.65, Research), which rose along with other stocks in the oil sector.

Hurting the mood on Wall Street was a weaker-than-forecast read on March consumer sentiment from the University of Michigan. The sentiment index fell to 92.9 from a prior read of 94.1 in February. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com thought it would rise to 95.3.

Market breadth was negative. On the New York Stock Exchange, losers beat winners by five to three on volume of 2.28 billion shares. On the Nasdaq, decliners topped advancers by three to two on volume of 2.1 billion shares.

On Friday, Standard & Poor's began to rebalance a number of indexes, including the S&P 500, to reflect the number of shares a company has available for trading, rather than its overall shares outstanding.

This is the first step in a move by S&P that won't be completed until September.

Additionally, Friday was the day when stock index futures and options, and individual stock futures and options expired simultaneously, something that happens once a quarter. It can lead to wide swings in the prices of underlying stocks as investors exercise their positions or roll them forward.

Treasury prices slipped, raising the 10-year note yield to 4.50 percent from 4.46 percent late Thursday. Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions.

In currency trading, the dollar rose versus the euro and yen.

COMEX gold rose 60 cents to settle at $439.70 an ounce.

In global trade, Asian stocks ended higher and European markets mostly ended higher.