Trade deficit, oil can’t hold down stocks

NEW YORK – Investors overcame their concerns about inflation and rising trade deficits to push stocks moderately higher Friday, but the major indexes ended the week mixed as nervousness mounted over the Federal Reserve’s pending decision on interest rates.

America’s current account deficit, the broadest measure of U.S. trade, reached an all-time high in the first quarter of 2004, but there was little apparent worry that consumers’ appetite for foreign goods could cause prices to spike higher – an inflationary trigger that could prompt the Fed to abandon its promise of a measured hike in interest rates.

Friday was a “triple witching” day on Wall Street – when options and futures contracts expire – which customarily means increased volatility in individual stock prices. However, overall volatility was low even as prices rose.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 38.89, or 0.4 percent, to 10,416.41.

Broader stock indicators were modestly higher. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index was up 2.97, or 0.3 percent, at 1,135.02, and the Nasdaq composite index rose 3.06, or 0.2 percent, to 1,986.73.