NEW YORK — U.S. stocks finished mostly higher Friday, after strong earnings from Google helped offset concerns over a foreclosure crisis for financials.
In addition, comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke reinforced investors’ expectations for more stimulus from the central bank, but some began to question whether the market has overly priced that in.
The Dow Jones industrial average still fell 31.79 points, or 0.3 percent, to 11,062.78. General Electric was the measure’s worst performer, falling 5 percent as the conglomerate’s revenue came in short of Wall Street’s expectation.
Financial stocks were also weak as concerns over the foreclosure crisis persisted. Bank of America fell 4.9 percent as S&P Equity Research cut its investment rating on the bank’s shares to hold from strong buy, citing concerns that it may be less prepared than peers for future mortgage repurchase demands. JPMorgan Chase dropped 4.1 percent.
“The risk is if there’s wrongdoing or things were wrong, they may be responsible for buying back some of these mortgages, which would put pressure on their earnings,” said David Bellantonio, head of U.S. trading at Instinet.
Still, the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite climbed 1.4 percent to 2,468.77, boosted by an 11 percent jump in Google. The Internet search giant reported a 32 percent rise in third-quarter profit, beating Wall Street estimates.
The broader Standard & Poor’s 500 rose 0.2 percent to 1,176.19 as strength in the technology sector offset declines across financials.
The mixed activity came after Bernanke made a case Friday for new steps by the Fed to boost economic growth. The speech reinforced expectations for more stimulus measures but prompted some confusion over whether the market may have been anticipating a bigger move.
Bernanke noted inflation was running below the Fed’s objective of 2 percent and that the economy was on a course to grow too slowly to bring down unemployment.
