Stocks end choppy week little changed

May 13, 2011: 5:03 PM ET
stock market

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NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Stocks fell Friday as the dollar gained ground and commodity prices pulled back, but managed to end the roller coaster week little changed.

The Dow Jones industrial average (INDU) tumbled 100 points, or 0.8%, led lower by Travelers Co. (TRV, Fortune 500), Bank of America (BAC, Fortune 500) and JPMorgan Chase (JPM, Fortune 500).

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The S&P 500 (SPX) fell 11 points, or 0.8%, and the Nasdaq Composite (COMP) lost 35 points, or 1.2%. Tech stocks Nvidia (NVDA), CA Inc. (CA), and Yahoo (YHOO, Fortune 500) were among the worst performers on both indexes.

Stocks kicked off Friday's session flat as investors took a step back at the end of a choppy week of trading. But the market fell under pressure in the afternoon as the dollar gained ground. The greenback rose 1% against the euro and 0.7% versus the British pound.

"Investors have been focused on short-term changes in the direction of the dollar," said Michael Sheldon, chief market strategist at RBC Wealth Management, adding that a stronger buck can make it difficult for U.S. corporations to compete overseas, and in turn, cut into profits.

The stronger dollar also weighed on commodity prices, which had been stable earlier in the day. Oil for June fell almost 1% before settling up 0.7% to $99.65 a barrel, while gold futures slipped 0.9% to settle at $1,494.20 an ounce. Silver futures rose 0.6% to $35.01 an ounce.

Stocks have been moving in tandem with commodity prices recently, falling hard earlier this week along with plunging oil prices but also following commodities back up on Thursday.

Friday's move downward pushed stocks close to the levels where they finished last week. The Dow ended the week down 0.3%, the S&P 500 ticked 0.2% lower, and the Nasdaq finished unchanged.

"Investors are trying to figure out if the recent decline in commodities is a signal toward weak U.S. economic growth, or simply the rotation of money out of a hot, crowded area of the market," Sheldon said.

Economy: A report from the government released Friday showed that consumer prices rose at an annual rate of 3.2% in April, with the bulk of increases coming from higher gas prices.

The University of Michigan's preliminary consumer sentiment survey for May rose to 72.4, from 69.8 in April. Economists were expecting the figure to come in lower at 69.5.

Companies: Shares of Yahoo (YHOO, Fortune 500) were down 3.6% after the company offered up more information about how it restructured Alipay. Yahoo was also the worst performer on the S&P 500 Wednesday as investors grew cautious after a regulatory filing raised questions about the value of Yahoo's China-based assets.

Bonds: The price on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury rose, pushing the yield down to 3.18%.

World markets: European stocks ended lower. Britain's FTSE 100 slipped 0.3%, the DAX in Germany ticked down 0.6% and France's CAC 40 lost 0.1%.

Asian markets ended the session mixed. The Shanghai Composite rose 1% and the Hang Seng in Hong Kong added 0.9%, while Japan's Nikkei fell 0.7%. To top of page

Index Last Change % Change
Dow 32,627.97 -234.33 -0.71%
Nasdaq 13,215.24 99.07 0.76%
S&P 500 3,913.10 -2.36 -0.06%
Treasuries 1.73 0.00 0.12%
Data as of 6:29am ET
Company Price Change % Change
Ford Motor Co 8.29 0.05 0.61%
Advanced Micro Devic... 54.59 0.70 1.30%
Cisco Systems Inc 47.49 -2.44 -4.89%
General Electric Co 13.00 -0.16 -1.22%
Kraft Heinz Co 27.84 -2.20 -7.32%
Data as of 2:44pm ET
Overnight Avg Rate Latest Change Last Week
30 yr fixed3.80%3.88%
15 yr fixed3.20%3.23%
5/1 ARM3.84%3.88%
30 yr refi3.82%3.93%
15 yr refi3.20%3.23%
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