Good News Gives Markets Shot In Arm

A spate of good economic news that gave financial markets a big boost on Tuesday had faded into the background by Friday, when the Dow Jones industrial average dipped on news of weak earnings.

But Friday’s 5.45-point dip, to 7,917.27, hardly dented the Dow’s triple-figure gain for the week.

In economic reports this week:

The Labor Department said consumer prices edged up a moderate 0.2 percent last month despite the fact that gasoline prices soared by the biggest amount since the Persian Gulf crisis in 1990.

The Federal Reserve said that industrial production shot up 0.7 percent in August as output in manufacturing rose by the biggest amount in 16 months. That meant that America’s factories, mines and utilities were operating at 83.9 percent of capacity in August.

The Commerce Department said construction of new homes fell 4.8 percent in August to the lowest level since December, pulled down by a large drop in the Northeast and smaller declines elsewhere.