Stocks see small gains, but end week lower

NEW YORK – Summertime settled into Wall Street on Friday as major stock indexes drifted slightly higher going into the weekend. The listless day of trading left the stock market with a tiny loss for the week, its second this month.

A handful of corporate results drove trading in some big names. Warnings of weaker earnings pushed DuPont down, while stronger results pushed Nike up. But the overall market was essentially flat.

“The fact is, it’s the summer, and there isn’t much happening,” said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at BMO Private Bank in Chicago.

That could change quickly. Turmoil in the Middle East could easily rattle U.S. markets, especially if the fighting in Iraq drives oil prices too high, Ablin said.

“The risk in the summer typically isn’t financial, it’s political,” he said. “This summer it’s geopolitical: Iraq and Ukraine.”

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index edged up 3.74 points, or 0.2 percent, to close at 1,960.96. It lost 1.91 points for the week, a loss of 0.1 percent.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 5.71 points, less than 0.1 percent, to close at 16,851.84, while the Nasdaq composite rose 18.88 points, or 0.4 percent, to 4,397.93.

Many investors have been waiting for the market to take a break from its long climb. The S&P 500 reached its latest all-time high on June 20.

After a Friday initial public offering, Michaels Companies’ stock rose two cents to $17.02. Bain Capital and the Blackstone Group, two private equity firms, bought the operator of arts and crafts stores in 2006 and returned it to investors in a $472 million IPO.

Nike gained 82 cents, or 1 percent, to $77.68 after reporting earnings late Thursday that beat Wall Street’s expectations. Stronger worldwide sales offset marketing costs for the World Cup soccer tournament. Nike provided the outfits for 10 national teams, including Team USA.