NEW YORK — U.S. stocks tallied modest gains Friday after the price of crude fell further and the government delivered upbeat economic data, including a surprising rise in orders for durable goods, which helped offset ongoing issues in the financial sector.
“I think it’s great that we have positive economic data. But the biggest driver of this market today is the price of a barrel of oil, which continues to be constructive to the market,” said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at Jefferies & Co.
The Dow Jones industrial average gained 21.41 points to 11,370.69, leaving the blue-chip index with a weekly loss of 1.1 percent.
Of the Dow’s 30 components, 15 ended in positive territory, with Microsoft Corp. up the most, gaining nearly 3 percent.
General Motors Corp. proved the greatest weight on the blue-chip index, with shares of the automaker lapsing 8 percent.
The blue-chip index and the broader market also took an afternoon hit after Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services said it might downgrade the subordinated debt and preferred stock of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Shares of Fannie fell almost 4 percent, while Freddie declined 6 percent.
“S&P downgrading Fannie and Freddie is seeping in, and the financial system is going under the waves. People might have looked up at the calendar and saw it was Friday, too,” said Hogan, as the blue-chip index took a brief tour into negative territory in the wake of the news.
The S&P 500 gained 5.22 points to 1,257,76, down 0.2 percent from a week ago.
Energy led sector gains after a bruising week.
The Nasdaq Composite climbed 30.42 points to 2,310.53, leaving the technology-laden index with a weekly gain of 1.2 percent.
Shares of Juniper Networks Inc. rallied nearly 18 percent after the maker of networking gear said third-quarter sales would come in as much as 5 percent higher than analyst estimates.
New orders for durable goods climbed 0.8 percent last month, the Commerce Department reported, better than the drop of 0.3 percent many economists predicted.
The data on orders, shipments and inventories of big-ticket goods “revealed surprising strength in ex-transportation orders with a 2 percent June gain that caught the market’s eye,” said analysts at Action Economics.
Consumer discretionary and utilities led sector declines among the S&P’s 10 industry groups.
Among financials, shares of Washington Mutual Inc. slipped further on concern unsecured creditors are losing faith in the nation’s biggest thrift. After losing more than 30 percent of their value Wednesday and Thursday, the shares were off 0.3 percent.
Volume on the New York Stock Exchange neared 1.3 billion, with advancing stocks outpacing those declining nine to seven. On the Nasdaq, 847 million shares traded, and advancers outran declining issues roughly eight to five.
