NEW YORK – Wall Street closed out an impressive week with a mixed performance yesterday after disappointing high-tech earnings punctured some of investors' enthusiasm over better-than-expected bank earnings reports. But the major indexes still ended the week with big gains, the result of rising optimism about the troubled financial sector.
The market was clearly pleased when Citigroup Inc., while reporting a second-quarter loss yesterday, beat analysts' forecasts. It joined Wells Fargo & Co. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. in delivering stronger results than the market anticipated. But investors who ecstatically sent the Dow Jones industrials soaring by more than 480 points over Wednesday and Thursday were brought back down to earth by results from Google Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Advanced Micro Devices Inc.
Google's results were lower than expected, the result of the weakening economy hurting advertising revenue, while Microsoft missed forecasts by a penny. Also, AMD's chief executive stepped down after the chip maker posted a wider-than-expected loss.
The Dow rose 49.91, or 0.44 percent, to 11,496.57, adding on to a 483-point gain Wednesday and Thursday. Broader stock indicators were mixed. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 0.36, or 0.03 percent, to 1,260.68, and the technology-focused Nasdaq composite index dropped 29.52, or 1.28 percent, to 2,282.78.
For the week, the Dow rose 3.57 percent, the Nasdaq increased 1.95 percent, and the S&P rose 1.71 percent.
Bond prices fell yesterday. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, rose to 4.09 percent from Thursday's 3.99 percent.
The dollar rose against other major currencies, and gold prices fell.
Meanwhile, oil prices retreated after rising early in the session. A barrel of light, sweet crude fell 41 cents to settle at $128.88 on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
While the week on Wall Street showed that a market long pummeled by bad economic news can quickly turn around, there have been many times over the past year when a huge gain quickly evaporated at the first sign of trouble. So while many investors felt that it was safe to lay down some bets this week, everyone on the street is mindful that there can be more steep losses ahead.
Google fell $52.12, or 9.8 percent, to $481.32 after it posted disappointing results late Thursday. Microsoft dropped $1.66, or 6 percent, to $25.86, while AMD fell 65 cents, or 12.3 percent, to $4.65.
Financial stocks were mixed. Merrill rose 18 cents to $30.91 after its wider-than-expected loss, while Citi added $1.38, or 7.7 percent, to $19.35 after its better-than-anticipated loss.
The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 3.55, or 0.51 percent, to 693.08.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by about 8-to-7 on the New York Stock Exchange, where consolidated volume came to 5.49 billion shares, down from an unusually heavy 7.17 billion on Thursday.
Overseas, Britain's FTSE 100 rose 1.70 percent and Germany's DAX index added 1.78 percent.
