NEW YORK (AP) – Stocks gave up most of their gains to end slightly higher Friday, extending a September rally that has slowed as the month wore on.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 13.02 or 0.1 percent to rose at 10,607.85. The Dow is up 5.9 percent in the month to date, defying skeptics who predicted a decline in September, which is historically a weak one for stocks. It has risen in seven of the last eight days.
The Dow Jones industrial lacked on 13 points, which the Standard & Poor’s 500 index edged up less than a point. Both traded close to be at breakeven level all day. The Dow and other major indexes logged their third-straight weekly advance.
The market started out on an up note following surprisingly strong profit news late Thursday from technology leaders Oracle. Corp. and Research in Motion Ltd., which makes BlackBerrys.
Technology and industrial shares were broadly higher though energy companies were weak following a drop in crude oil. A decline on a measure of consumer confidence from the University of Michigan/Reuters also kept a lid on buying. Gold set another record and Treasury prices edged higher in a sign that investors remain cautious.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, the measure used most widely by professional investors, briefly edged above a technical trading threshold, but not enough to convince analysts that the market is ready to move sharply higher. Stocks have been on a nearly unbroken upward march in September, driving the S&P up 7.5 percent.
Traders watch such technical barriers closely for clues about where the market might go next. Right now the key level for the S&P 500 is 1,131, its intraday high for June 21 and the top end of its recent trading range. It barely peeked over that level Friday but failed to stay above it, a sign that the market needs more fuel, in the form of good news on the economy or corporate profits.
Uri Landesnman, president of Platinum Partners, said if the S&P can rally past 1,131, it could surge even further in the next couple of weeks. But if it cannot significantly eclipse that level and falls back below 1,115, roughly its low for the week, we could go for 1,000 pretty fast, Landesman said.