Mixed day, strong week as Dow retreats from record

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Stocks were mixed Friday, as the Dow Jones Industrial average struggled a day after ending at an all-time high and the Nasdaq composite edged higher.

The Dow (down 20.19 to 12,653.49, Charts) lost 0.2 percent, snapping a four-day winning streak, after hitting an intraday record of 12,683.93 right after the opening bell. In the previous session, the blue-chip average hit a record closing high of 12,673.68.

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The broader S&P 500 (up 2.45 to 1,448.39, Charts) index added nearly 0.2 percent after ending the previous session at the highest point since September 2000.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite (up 7.50 to 2,475.88, Charts) gained 0.3 percent.

For the week, the Dow was up 1.3 percent, the S&P 500 gained 1.8 percent and the Nasdaq rose 1.7 percent.

The S&P 500 recorded its biggest weekly gain since August, while the Dow notched its best weekly performance since November.

Stocks were higher earlier in the week and rallied Thursday on a mix of lower oil prices and some relief about the economic outlook.

The sense of relief was mostly reinforced by Friday's economic news, including a stronger-than-forecast reading on December factory orders and by the January jobs report.

But fluctuating energy prices and a selloff in commodity stocks, such as silver and gold, kept stocks in mixed territory. Additionally, investors showed a little caution after lifting the Dow to a record the day before.

"We've had a pretty good run," said Scott Wren, senior equity strategist at A.G. Edwards & Sons.

With a slew of earnings reports on deck, including Walt Disney (Charts) and News Corp., but little in the way of economic news, Wren said the markets may be choppy next week, but with "an upside bias because the data has been so good."

"I think we're probably going to trade higher but not a lot higher," he said.

After the closing bell Friday, Google's (down $0.25 to $481.50, Charts) YouTube agreed to remove more than 100,000 video clips following demands by Viacom (up $0.71 to $41.08, Charts).

And it was reported that Rupert Murdoch awarded an estimated $600 million worth of News Corp. (up $0.05 to $24.44, Charts) shares to his six children.

Among stock movers, Amazon.com (down $1.31 to $37.39, Charts) lost nearly 4 percent after the company reported lower fourth-quarter earnings that topped estimates late Thursday and lifted its revenue forecast for the first quarter.

LM Ericsson (down $2.21 to $37.12, Charts) sank 6 percent in active Nasdaq trading after warning about a slowing mobile gear market in 2007. That overshadowed the company's upbeat fourth-quarter results.

On the upside, video game publisher Electronic Arts (up $0.59 to $51.13, Charts) climbed 1 percent after it reported lower quarterly profit that nonetheless topped estimates late Thursday.

Other tech gainers included Oracle (up $0.37 to $17.42, Charts), Cisco Systems (up $0.55 to $27.14, Charts), Applied Materials (up $0.18 to $18.12, Charts) and Yahoo! (up $0.42 to $28.77, Charts).

A variety of oil stocks fell, including Marathon Oil (down $1.29 to $89.62, Charts), which reported weaker quarterly profit on Thursday.

And Chevron (down $0.43 to $74.04, Charts) slipped after reporting lower fourth-quarter profit, hurt by falling natural gas prices.

The energy sector is expected to post declining profits for the quarter versus a year ago for the first time since 2002, according to Thomson Financial estimates.

Overall S&P 500 earnings are expected to have grown 10.4 percent from a year ago, according to the latest Thomson Financial figures.

Market breadth was positive. On the New York Stock Exchange, winners topped losers nine to seven on volume of 1.4 billion shares. On the Nasdaq, advancers narrowly edged out decliners on volume of 1.9 billion shares.

Employers added 111,000 jobs to their payrolls in January, short of economists' forecasts. However, November and December figures were upwardly revised.

Average hourly earnings, the report's inflation component, rose only 0.2 percent in January, versus forecasts for a rise of 0.3 percent. The December reading was revised down to 0.4 percent from an initially reported 0.5 percent.

The unemployment rate, generated by a separate survey, rose to a higher-than-expected 4.6 percent.

The report seemed to add to bets that the economy is heading for a soft landing, rather than a recession, inflation is contained and the Federal Reserve can stay on hold.

Also released Friday: the final January reading on consumer sentiment from the University of Michigan, which fell from a previous January reading but was higher versus last month.

Treasury prices rose modestly on the economic news, lowering the yield on the benchmark 10-year note to 4.82 percent from 4.83 percent late Thursday. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.

U.S. light crude oil for March delivery rose $1.72 to $59.02 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

COMEX gold for April delivery slumped $11.50 to $651.50 an ounce.

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

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