NYSE equities up but decline on week

The New York equities markets were up on Friday but saw declines for the week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.8 percent for the day but fell by 0.3 percent over the week to close at 10,641.94, while the Nasdaq composite added 0.7 percent on the day but lost 0.7 percent for the week to 2,160.35 at the close on Friday and the S&P 500 was up 0.8 percent Friday but dropped 0.3 percent on the week to 1,237.87.

Less than positive economic news and continuing worries about oil prices outweighed a few positive earnings reports and anticipation of an upbeat third-quarter reporting season to begin in a few weeks.

Bankruptcy filings on Wednesday for both Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines sent their shares down precipitously during the week, as Delta’s shares dropped 22.7 percent to 85 cents and Northwest declined by 74.1 percent to 90 cents.

Retailers were hurt by concerns that high gasoline prices could cut into consumer spending. Best Buy, the home electronics retailer, was also hurt by a disappointing guidance for the third quarter to drop 9.5 percent for the week.

News that Time Warner and Microsoft were in talks over plans to cooperate in the internet search business and in advertising benefited Time Warner, which was up 3.1 percent on the week to $18.90, but did not help Microsoft. Microsoft dropped 1.9 percent over the week to $26.07.

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