Wall St.: Up day, down week

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Deal news propelled stocks higher on Friday in light trading ahead of the long holiday weekend, at the end of an otherwise lower week on Wall Street.

After surging for 7 straight weeks, the Dow and the S&P 500 ended lower for the week. The Nasdaq ended the week about a point lower.

The Dow Jones industrial average (up 66.15 to 13,507.28, Charts) added 0.5 percent, after hitting an all-time intraday record in the previous session. For the week, the Dow lost around 0.4 percent.

The S&P 500 index (up 8.22 to 1,515.73, Charts) gained nearly 0.6 percent and now stands about 12 points below its all-time closing high of 1,527.46 from March 2000. For the week, the S&P 500 gave up about 0.5 percent.

The tech-fueled Nasdaq composite (up 19.27 to 2,557.19, Charts) climbed 0.8 percent after touching a six-year high earlier in the week and ended the week barely lower.

Merger activity provided momentum for stocks Friday, continuing the recent trend.

Coca-Cola agreed to buy vitamin water maker Glaceau for $4.1 billion, sending Coke (up $0.65 to $51.89, Charts, Fortune 500) shares up a little more than 1 percent.

Nasdaq Stock Market said it is buying Nordic exchange group OMX AB in a $3.7 billion cash-and-stock deal that will give the U.S. exchange a better toehold in Europe, after two failed attempts to buy the London Stock Exchange Group. Nasdaq (down $1.14 to $32.84, Charts) shares fell nearly 4 percent.

Archstone-Smith Trust (up $4.10 to $55.23, Charts), a real estate investment trust (REIT), surged 8 percent in active trading after UBS said it could be a takeover candidate, Briefing.com reported.

Investors cheered the news, but trading volume was light ahead of the long weekend. All U.S. financial markets are closed Monday for Memorial Day.

"The market is going out on a positive note before the long weekend, but as far as next Tuesday is concerned, anything can happen," said Emily Sanders, CEO of Sanders Financial Management.

On the economic front, a reading on April existing home sales came in weaker than expected. But investors didn't seem too concerned, especially following the strong reading on new home sales released Thursday.

That report sparked a steep selloff on Wall Street as investors worried the Federal Reserve wouldn't cut interest rates by the end of the year, as had been hoped.

Investors are looking for signs that the economy is slowing enough to take the edge off inflation. But too much of a slowdown could send the economy into a recession.

Housing reports have been showing variability lately, but overall the real estate sector remains in a downward trend, Sanders said.

Next week is a busy one on the economic front, with reports due on housing, manufacturing, consumer confidence, GDP, inflation and the labor market.

The lone earnings report of interest next week is Dell, which is due to report results Thursday evening.

Blue chip gains were broad based, with 24 out of 30 Dow socks rising.

In addition to Coca-Cola, the biggest advancers included Alcoa (up $0.69 to $40.90, Charts, Fortune 500), Honeywell (up $0.94 to $56.93, Charts, Fortune 500), IBM (up $1.23 to $105.18, Charts, Fortune 500) and Exxon Mobil (up $1.23 to $83.51, Charts, Fortune 500).

Exxon was one of many oil services stocks rising in tune with higher oil prices. The Amex Oil (up 21.56 to 1,359.86, Charts) index added 1.6 percent.

Chipmaker R.F. Micro Devices (up $0.34 to $6.50, Charts) climbed 5.5 percent in active Nasdaq trade after brokerage Jefferies & Co. upgraded the stock to "buy" from "hold," Briefing.com reported.

Other big tech stocks helping to boost the Nasdaq included Oracle (up $0.49 to $19.24, Charts, Fortune 500) and Apple (up $2.93 to $113.62, Charts, Fortune 500).

Market breadth was positive. On the New York Stock Exchange, winners beat losers by 2 to 1 on volume of 930 million shares. On the Nasdaq, advancers topped decliners 3 to 2 as 1.2 billion shares exchanged hands.

Treasury bond and commodity markets closed early ahead of the holiday.

Treasury prices slipped, raising the yield on the 10-year note to 4.86 percent from 4.84 percent late Thursday. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.

U.S. light crude oil for July delivery rose $1.02 to settle at $65.20 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

COMEX gold for June delivery rose $2 to settle at $655.30 an ounce.

In currency trading, the dollar slipped versus the euro and the yen, giving up gains after the weak housing market report.