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NEW YORK (CNN/Money) -
Stocks clawed back into positive territory Friday, at the end of a tumultuous day on Wall Street, as investors eyed a mixed October jobs report and a slide in oil prices.
The Dow Jones industrial average (up 8.17 to 10,530.76, Charts) and the S&P 500 (up 0.20 to 1,220.14, Charts) index both closed just above unchanged. The Nasdaq composite (up 9.21 to 2,169.43, Charts) added 0.4 percent.
The major gauges rose on the week too, with investors reacting well to Tuesday's interest-rate hike from the Federal Reserve and a retreat in energy prices.
The Dow and S&P 500 have gained for two weeks in a row, while the Nasdaq has gained for three weeks in a row.
Treasury prices slipped Friday, boosting the corresponding yields, and the dollar jumped versus other major currencies.
U.S. light crude oil for December delivery fell $1.20 to settle at $60.58 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
The week ahead is light on earnings and economic reports, but could nonetheless be a positive one for the markets, analysts say.
"People are hoping that given the strength of the third quarter earnings, the resilience of the economy after the hurricanes and the fact that oil has been trading off lately are all positives that will move us up into the year end," said Tim Heekin, head of stock trading at Thomas Weisel Partners
"That should be the case, unless there is a significant change in the economic news coming out in November and December," Heekin added.
Mixed read on jobs
Employers added 56,000 to their payrolls in October, the government said Friday morning, in a report that showed the labor market continued to struggle in the month amid high energy prices and the aftermath of hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com were expecting 100,000 new jobs, on average.
The September job loss was favorably revised, to a decline of 8,000 jobs from the originally reported 35,000 jobs lost in the aftermath of hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
The unemployment report, generated by a separate survey, fell to 5 percent from 5.1 percent in September. Economists expected the rate to have held steady at 5.1 percent. Hourly earnings, the report's inflation component, rose 0.5 percent, versus forecasts for a rise of 0.2 percent.
What moved?
Gains in biotech, software and chips helped fuel a Nasdaq advance, while the Dow was more mixed.
Component General Motors (up $0.16 to $26.77, Research) gained after saying that it was offering extra cash rebates on all 2005 models sold on the U.S. market, except the Hummer H1.
Other Dow 30 gainers included Home Depot (up $0.57 to $41.36, Research), Honeywell (up $0.47 to $35.90, Research) and Pfizer (up $0.39 to $22.26, Research), while the biggest loser was Exxon Mobil (down $0.67 to $57.90, Research).
Exxon joined a list of oil stocks selling off, helping to drag down the Amex Oil (down 27.62 to 995.62, Charts) index by 2.7 percent.
The Dow Jones Transportation (down 38.22 to 3,935.22, Charts) average fell 1 percent after rising during the last week, with a number of its trucking issues falling.
Among the stocks firing up the Nasdaq, Oracle (up $0.41 to $12.61, Research) gained 3.4 percent after saying late Thursday that its chief financial officer would leave the company after just five months.
Sanmina-SCI (up $0.75 to $4.41, Research) jumped 20.5 percent in active Nasdaq trade after reporting quarterly earnings late Thursday that rose from a year earlier and beat estimates. The company, which manufactures electronics products for tech and telecom companies, also reported lower quarterly revenue that was nonetheless above forecasts.
Apple Computer (down $0.70 to $61.15, Research) slipped 1.1 percent after Prudential downgraded it to "neutral" from "overweight."
Market breadth was mixed. On the New York Stock Exchange, losers beat winners eight to seven on volume of 1.52 billion shares. On the Nasdaq, advancers narrowly edged decliners as 1.73 billion shares changed hands.
Treasury prices fell modestly, raising the yield on the 10-year note to 4.66 percent from 4.65 percent late Thursday. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
The dollar rallied versus the euro and the yen.
COMEX gold fell $4 to $457.90 an ounce.
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