Qa'dah 08, 1431/Oct 16, 2010, SPA -- Stocks ended mixed Friday, with all three major indexes posting gains for the week and as stocks rose for a second week in a row. Stocks opened higher Friday after Federal Reserve (Fed) Chairman Ben Bernanke said the central bank has “a case for further action” to stimulate the economy, citing high unemployment and low inflation. The comments appeared to set the stage for the Fed to announce plans to buy more Treasurys at its next meeting in November. The move, known as quantitative easing, is designed to aid the economy by lowering long-term interest rates. It would also further weaken the U.S. dollar, which has plunged against other currencies in recent weeks. Bank stocks were among the worst performers as their foreclosure practices are under investigation by state and federal regulators. Many U.S. banks have halted foreclosures in parts of the country to investigate foreclosure cases where documents were not filed properly, and some regulators are pushing for a nationwide freeze. Meanwhile, the technology sector performed well with Google leading the way after the technology giant reported strong quarterly earnings late Thursday. Shares of Google were up 11 percent to $599.55 and earlier Friday, the stock rose above $600 for the first time since January. In company news, General Electric (GE) reported quarterly earnings on Friday of $3.2 billion, or 29 cents per share. Analysts were expecting the company to have earned 27 cents per share, up from 22 cents a year ago. However, the company reported a bigger revenue drop than expected, sending GE's stock down 5 percent. The government released its latest report on the consumer price index (CPI), a measure of inflation, as increasing 0.1 percent in September, less than the 0.2 percent predicted from consensus polls. The Commerce Department also reported on retail sales, with sales gaining 0.6 percent to $367.7 billion in September, compared to August's 0.7 percent increase. Economists expected September sales to grow by 0.4 percent. The U.S. dollar rose against the eruo and fell against the yen. Light sweet crude oil for November delivery fell $1.30 to $81.39 a barrel. Gold futures fell $5.60 to $1,372 an ounce. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 31.79, or 0.3 percent, to 11,062.78. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 2.38, or 0.2 percent, to 1,176.19. The technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index rose 33.39, or 1.4 percent, to 2,468.77.
