Bumpy session ends mostly higher

NEW YORK – Stocks finished a bumpy session mostly higher Friday, as investors, while still somewhat cautious about the economy, were encouraged by the government’s pledge to lend as much as $17.4 billion to U.S. automakers.

The Dow Jones industrial average finished down about 25 points, but both the broader Standard & Poor’s 500 and Nasdaq composite indexes posted moderate advances, finishing higher for the second straight week in a row. Stocks that rose outpaced those that fell by about 2 to 1 on the New York Stock Exchange.

The Dow ended the week down 50.57, or 0.59 percent, at 8,579.11. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index finished up 8.15, or 0.93 percent, at 887.88. The Nasdaq composite index ended the week up 23.60, or 1.53 percent, at 1,564.32.

The Russell 2000 index finished the week up 17.83, or 3.8 percent, at 486.26.

The Dow Jones Wilshire 5000 Composite Index – a free-float weighted index that measures 5,000 U.S.-based companies – ended at 8,924.03, up 123.85 points, or 1.41 percent, for the week. A year ago, the index was at 14,644.64.

Though Friday’s session was choppy – with the Dow rising as many as 182 points in early trading, then moving in and out of negative territory for much of the afternoon – it was a relatively calm day on Wall Street compared to the wild swings experienced in September, October and early November.

In the early going, investors cheered the government’s pledge to provide General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC with $13.4 billion in short-term financing, and another $4 billion at a later date.

The decision to provide emergency help to carry the struggling industry into the new year comes after a $14 billion bailout for the automakers failed to make it out of the Senate last week.

The technology-heavy Nasdaq was lifted by big gains from Oracle Corp. and Research In Motion Ltd., both of which released earnings reports after the bell on Thursday. Oracle’s profit weakened for the first time in years, but its shares rose 7 percent as investors bet that the company will fare better than others as the economy struggles. BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion rallied $4.39, or 11 percent, to $42.83, after reporting better-than-expected revenue guidance for the fourth quarter and strong holiday sales of its new smart phones.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 7.09, or 1.48 percent, to 486.26.

Consolidated volume on the NYSE came to 6.04 billion shares, up from 5.46 billion Thursday.

Some analysts attributed much of the market’s choppiness Friday to the expiration of options contracts, as well as the routine rebalancing of stock indexes.

Since their multiyear lows on Nov. 20, the Dow is up 13.6 percent and the S&P 500 is up 18 percent.