NEW YORK — Worry about corporate profit growth and a weekend meeting of global finance officials put pressure on the Dow Jones industrial average Friday, but the major indexes still managed their third-straight week of gains.
The blue-chip measure closed down 14.01 points, or 0.13 percent, to 11,132.56.
The Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index edged up 2.82, or 0.24 percent, to 1,183.08. The Nasdaq Composite rose 19.72 points, 0.8 percent, to 2,479.39. The Dow and the S&P 500 closed up for the third consecutive week, with both gaining 0.6 percent. The Nasdaq added 0.4 percent for the week.
Traders hesitated Friday as a meeting of finance ministers and central bankers from the Group of 20 big industrial and emerging economies got underway in Gyeongju, South Korea. The market is watching whether officials, in preparation for a G20 summit in Seoul next month, can agree on managing exchange rates to cool what’s been called a “currency war.”
“We need some sense of direction over what’s going to happen in currencies,” said Michael Farr, president of the portfolio-management firm Farr, Miller & Washington.
The Dow’s decline Friday was led by American Express Co. and Verizon Communications. Both reported better-than-expected profits, but AmEx fell 3.1 percent on concerns that it is seeing weak demand for new loans, and Verizon dropped 1.3 percent on disappointment over slowing wireless-subscriber growth.
Technology stocks were boosted by encouraging earnings. Riverbed Technology, which makes products that reduce the load on networks, surged 18 percent after its third-quarter revenue beat expectations and its board approved a 2-for-1 stock split.
Denver-based Chipotle Mexican Grill jumped 15 percent. The restaurant chain’s third-quarter profit rose 40 percent as same-store sales and traffic improved. The company also boosted its same-store sales target for the year.
Compuware, CA Inc. and also reported earnings that beat Wall Street estimates.
