Technology stocks fell on Friday and drove the Nasdaq down 1 percent on disappointing earnings from Google (GOOG.O, ) and Microsoft(MSFT.O, ), while Citigroup's smaller-than-expected loss pushed up the Dow and helped keep the broader market near the unchanged mark.
Nevertheless, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq snapped a six-week losing streak. The Dow snapped four weeks of losses as financial stocks rallied after the government outlined a plan to shore up mortgage finance companies Fannie Mae (FNM.N, ) and Freddie Mac (FRE.N, ) and the SEC announced rules to curb short selling.
Reassuring quarterly results from key banks also fed the week's rally, with Citigroup capping a series of closely watched scorecards from Wells Fargo (WFC.N, ) and JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N, ) that beat analysts' estimates.
On top of that, the biggest weekly drop ever in oil prices also gave investors a renewed appetite for equities.
Despite their weekly gain, tech stocks ended the week with a thud. Google's stock fell almost 10 percent, its biggest one-day percentage drop since it went public in 2004, and Microsoft shares slid 6 percent, a day after the tech bellwethers' quarterly results fell short of expectations.
"The government's plan to provide funding for Fannie and Freddie and the SEC's short-selling rule put a floor, for now, under financials. But you'll start to see investors increasingly differentiate between 'the haves and have nots' in financials," said Michael Sheldon, chief market strategist at RDM Financial, in Westport, Connecticut.
The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI rose 49.91 points, or 0.44 percent, to 11,496.57. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index .SPX was little changed, up just 0.36 of a point, or 0.03 percent, at 1,260.68.
The Nasdaq Composite Index , meanwhile, shed 29.52 points, or 1.28 percent, to close at 2,282.78. |
