NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Stocks ended a tough week little changed Thursday after a mild rally sparked by GE's positive earnings forecast was countered by caution ahead of a three-day holiday weekend.

In a shortened week, the major gauges fell for the third week in a row. Trading was light ahead of Good Friday, when U.S. financial markets are closed. The bond market closed early Thursday.

The Nasdaq composite (up 0.84 to 1,991.06, Charts) ended little changed Thursday and was off 0.8 percent for the week.

The Dow Jones industrial average (down 13.15 to 10,442.87, Charts) and the broader Standard & Poor's 500 (down 1.11 to 1,171.42, Charts) edged lower on the day and fell 1.75 percent and 1.5 percent for the week, respectively.

All three major gauges had posted moderate gains in the afternoon that faded near the close as many Wall Street professionals bailed out early ahead of the weekend.

The dollar strengthened, moving higher versus other major currencies. Treasury bonds drifted lower, nudging yields higher. Gold ended barely lower.

The market has gotten oversold and could see a bounce heading into next week, said Paul Levine, president at Lifetime Financial Strategies, a Connecticut-based money manager. "But beyond that, I don't see a lot out there that's going to push stocks higher."

Stocks had a tough week, mired in worries about inflation and rising interest rates after the Federal Reserve said Tuesday that inflation was more of a concern, suggesting the central bank would speed up the pace of its rate-hiking campaign in the near future.

"The main factor to look at right now is interest rates, and there's no question real rates are going up, and the Fed may need to speed up its efforts," he said.

Next week is heavy on economic reports, many of which will address inflation concerns. The first three sessions of the week are fairly light, with only reports on consumer confidence and a revision on gross domestic product growth due.

However, a slew of reports are due later in the week, including reads on personal income and spending, factory orders and manufacturing in the Midwest region, all on Thursday. Friday brings the key economic report for the month, the monthly employment report.

Expectations about the monthly report are bound to influence trade in the sessions leading up to it, said Peter Cardillo, chief market analyst at S.W. Bach & Co. "It's probably going to be volatile early in the week."

Dow component General Electric (up $0.23 to $35.73, Research) boosted its first-quarter earnings forecast Thursday to 37 cents a share from an earlier target of 36 cents to 37 cents. GE earned 32 cents a share a year earlier. The company also reaffirmed its fiscal 2005 forecast. The stock rose about 0.7 percent, after having been modestly higher in the afternoon.

While the positive news sparked only a small reaction in GE stock, it helped the broader market on a psychological level, particularly since GE's business covers so many sectors of the economy, market analysts said.

The morning's mixed economic news helped cool the inflation worries that have riled the markets for weeks, giving a boost to economically sensitive sectors such as homebuilders, financials and basic materials.

Technology was mixed, continuing to churn after the Nasdaq composite closed at four-month lows Tuesday.

Oil prices see-sawed amid ongoing supply concerns, and in reaction to news of an explosion at a refinery outside of Houston that killed 15 people.

U.S. light crude for May delivery settle at $54.84 a barrel, a gain of $1.03, on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Durable goods orders rose 0.3 percent in February, the Commerce Department reported. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com thought orders would increase 0.8 percent. Orders fell 1.3 percent in January.

Weekly jobless claims rose to 324,000 last week from 321,000 the previous week, the Labor Department reported. The reading was above forecasts.

New home sales for February jumped 9.4 percent to a 1.226 million unit annual rate, also above forecasts. The report gave a boost to homebuilders, and the Dow Jones Home Construction (up $11.25 to $843.22, Research) index rose 1.8 percent.

Tech stocks got some support from Yahoo! (up $0.54 to $31.41, Research) which said Thursday that its board has approved a program to buy back up to $3 billion in stock over the next five years. Such programs are often seen as a sign of corporate confidence.

But a number of other influential stocks were lower, including software makers Oracle (down $0.15 to $12.36, Research) and Siebel Systems (down $0.18 to $8.60, Research).

Lexar Media (up $3.15 to $6.32, Research) rallied nearly 100 percent and was the Nasdaq's most-actively traded stock after a California jury determined that Toshiba was guilty of stealing trade secrets from the company, which makes digital camera memory cards, among other products.

After the close, Lexar reported a quarterly loss, versus a profit from a year ago, and also forecast a current-quarter loss that is narrower than what analysts are forecasting.

The Dow's biggest gainer was General Motors (up $0.64 to $29.30, Research), which gained 2.3 percent after having been hit hard over the last week since it issued a quarterly earnings warning.

Market breadth was positive. On the New York Stock Exchange, advancers beat decliners 9 to 7 on volume of 1.35 billion shares. On the Nasdaq, winners beat losers eight to seven as 1.68 billion shares changed hands.

Treasury prices inched lower, raising the yield on the 10-year note to 4.60 percent from 4.58 percent late Wednesday. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.

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

COMEX gold fell 60 cents to settle at $424.80 an ounce.

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