Wild market ends week on high note

The mixed economic signals driving the stock market's record-setting swings this week did it again Friday. Conflicting reports on retail sales and consumer sentiment sent the Dow up, then down, then up again where it closed up about 125.7 points at 11,269.

It had been up more than 150 points early Friday after a government report said consumers spent more on autos, furniture and gasoline in July, pushing up retail sales by the largest amount in four months. But the Dow briefly turned negative before pulling up again after a dismal survey on consumers' feelings about their personal finances and the economy.

Standard & Poor's 500 index closed at 1178.8 up 6.2, 0.53 percent; the Nasdaq composite index closed up 15.3, 0.61 percent at 2508.

It was the first time in more than a month that the markets have risen two days in a row. The Dow and the S&P last rose for two trading days on July 6 and 7.

Despite the swings during the day, Friday was calm when compared with the first four days of the week. On Monday the market closed down more than 600 points, Tuesday it was up about 420, and Wednesday it was down about 530 points. Thursday it closed up 423.

The Reuters/University of Michigan survey of consumer sentiment reported a 30-year low.

The retail sales data covered all of July, but financial markets didn't start the wild ride until July 22. The sentiment survey was taken over the past 10 days, as Americans watched the markets leap and dive on news about Europe's spreading financial crisis, the first-ever downgrade of the long-term U.S. credit rating, signals that the job market improved slightly in July and strong earnings from a technology bellwether.

Normally, such a bad consumer survey would have pushed shares sharply lower for the day, said Quincy Krosby, an investment strategist with Prudential Financial. "But these are not normal times," she said. Market volatility cuts both ways, sending shares way up or way down, Krosby noted. That can cause shares to defy economic data.

A separate government report on Friday showed that businesses increased stockpiles of everything from raw materials to retail products for the 18th month in a row. Growing inventories are usually a sign of business confidence. But nervous consumers have held back recently; in June they cut their spending for the first time in nearly two years.