Friday close tempers week’s gains

NEW YORK – U.S. stocks finished mixed Friday, but posted weekly gains, as enthusiasm over a drop in the U.S. unemployment rate gave way to caution ahead of the beginning of the quarterly earnings season.

The S&P 500 closed nearly unchanged, slipping 0.47 point to 1,460.93, though the index rose 1.4 percent for the week.

The Dow Jones industrial average climbed 34.79 points, or 0.3 percent, to end at 13,610.15, its highest closing value since December 2007. The blue-chip index posted a weekly gain of 1.3 percent.

Stocks had rallied during the session after data showed the economy added 114,000 jobs in September, and the unemployment rate fell to 7.8 percent, its lowest level since January 2009.

In late trading, however, stocks turned mostly lower as investors eyed the start of third-quarter earnings season on Tuesday when aluminum giant Alcoa Inc. will report results.

Friday’s session echoes a pattern in play in recent weeks that has Wall Street “making a decisive move up or down in the morning, go sideways and then retrace half the move before the close,” said Arthur Hogan, a strategist at Lazard Capital Markets.

Next week the market will get “company-specific announcements that could be indicative of broader economic trends,” Matthew Kaufler, portfolio manager at Federated Investors, said of third-quarter earnings season.

“The expectations bar is as low as it’s been this entire cycle (since 2009). Even though corporate America continues to find a way to eke out profits out of slowing top-line revenue growth, it’ll be uninspiring at best,” offered Hogan of the results ahead.

Advancers outpaced decliners by 17 to 13 on the New York Stock Exchange, where around 600 million shares traded. Composite volume topped 3.1 billion.

The Nasdaq composite fell 13.27 points, or 0.4 percent, to end at 3,136.19; the index gained 0.6 percent for the week.