NEW YORK — A strong week fizzled to a close Friday as the stock market eked out a small gain. But a few companies made big moves. Google surged after reporting strong results, pushing the Nasdaq to another record high.
It was a quiet end to an eventful week. Markets around the world rallied Monday after Greece and its creditors agreed to a broad framework for a new loan program. Stronger quarterly earnings reports from a range of big U.S. companies, including Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase, added more encouragement.
“It appears the sky is clearing,” said Linda Duessel, senior equity strategist at Federated Investors.
Before this week, concerns about China’s plunging stock market and the prospect of Greece’s leaving the euro “had been bogging us down,” she said.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 index edged up 2.35 points, or 0.1 percent, to close at 2,126.64. The broad-market measure finished the week with a gain of 2.4 percent, its best performance in four months.
The Nasdaq rose 46.96 points, or 0.9 percent, to 5,210.14, closing out its best week in nine months. The Dow Jones industrial average lost 33.80 points, or 0.19 percent, at 18,086.45.
Google jumped after reporting profits and sales that topped analysts’ forecasts late Thursday. The results ended six consecutive quarters in which Google’s earnings fell short of analysts’ targets. Google rose $97.84, or 16 percent, to $699.62.
Earnings reports out this week have looked better than Wall Street expected. Analysts forecast that second-quarter earnings will shrink 3.3 percent compared with the prior year, according to S&P Capital IQ. Last week, the prediction was for a drop of 4.4 percent.
