Oil price sets trading record, stocks mixed

NEW YORK – Wall Street pulled off its lows to finish narrowly mixed Friday as investors squared concerns about rising oil prices with a surprise jump in home construction. The major indexes ended the week with big gains.

Investors, hoping for an economic rebound in the second half of the year, have been searching for any signs that the housing market is bottoming. The Commerce Department’s report that home construction jumped 8.2 percent in April came as welcome news.

But investors still appeared concerned for much of the session about energy prices and their effect on consumer spending, which accounts for more than two-thirds of U.S. economic activity. The price of a barrel of oil spiked to $127.82 for a new trading record on Friday.

The rise in energy and food costs is weighing on the mood of consumers. The Reuters/University of Michigan consumer sentiment reading for May fell to 59.5 in May – the weakest reading since June 1980.

Despite the uneasiness over energy prices, stocks posted strong gains for the week. The broader market, as measured by the Standard & Poor’s 500 index, rose 2.7 percent for the week.

The gains in oil for a time upended some of the week’s optimism that led investors to move into cyclical stocks that typically benefit when an economy begins to emerge from a slowdown, said Steve Neimeth, portfolio manager for AIG SunAmerica Mutual Funds.

The Dow Jones industrial average slipped 5.86, or 0.05 percent, Friday, closing at 12,986.80. For the week, the Dow rose 1.89 percent.

The Nasdaq composite index fell 4.88, or 0.19 percent, to 2,528.85 Friday, but still jumped 3.41 percent for the week. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq remain at five-month highs.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by about 8 to 7 on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to 1.31 billion shares compared with 1.20 billion shares Thursday.

Government bond prices rose Friday as stocks declined. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note fell to 3.78 percent from 3.82 percent late Thursday.

Overseas, Japan’s Nikkei stock average rose 0.39 percent. Britain’s FTSE 100 finished up 0.84 percent, Germany’s DAX index rose 1.07 percent, and France’s CAC-40 rose 0.41 percent.