SAN FRANCISCO — U.S. stocks closed up Friday as favorable economic reports balanced out disappointing earnings results, but it wasn’t enough give the Dow Jones industrials its fourth consecutive weekly gain.
The Dow rose 57 points, or 0.5 percent, to close at 12,342, with 20 of its 30 components rising. For the week, however, the Dow is off 0.3 percent to snap a three-week run of weekly gains.
Leading the Dow was Merck, with shares up 1.9 percent, after the drugmaker settled with Johnson & Johnson Inc. over a disputed arthritis drug. The gains in stocks Friday came as a measure of consumer sentiment rose in April, beating forecasts.
Core consumer prices climbed a modest 0.1 percent in March, according to the Labor Department, which provided the Federal Reserve with breathing space to continue its $600 billion bond-buying program.
Also released Friday was data showing that manufacturing in the New York region climbed to a one-year high in April on a surge of new orders.
Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Avalon Partners in New York, said the data, along with indications the Fed will not tighten monetary policy anytime soon, allowed the market to overcome less-than-starry earnings results.
Earlier, Chicago Federal Reserve President Charles Evans said that as long as core inflation remained at 1.5 percent or lower, he was “extremely doubtful” the Federal Reserve would adjust its monetary policy.
“The bottom line is that the good economy and cheap money will continue to bolster the stock market,” Cardillo said.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 rose 5.16 points, or 0.4 percent, to 1,319.68, with technology the hardest hit and utilities the best performing among its 10 industry sectors. For the week, the index fell 0.6 percent — its second straight weekly loss.
The Nasdaq composite fell 0.6 percent for the week, its second weekly loss in a row. Dragging on tech stocks, Google reported first-quarter earnings below Wall Street’s expectations late Thursday. Google shares dropped 8.3 percent.
