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Stocks closed mostly flat on Friday amid a strong dollar and as earnings season continued.
The Dow Jones Industrials came off its lows, but still trailed Thursday’s close by 16.64 points to end the week at 18,145.71, with Verizon leading decliners and Microsoft the top advancer.
The S&P 500 dropped 0.18 points to 2,141.16, with telecommunications leading eight sectors lower and consumer discretionary the biggest riser.
The NASDAQ composite index regained 15.57 points to 5,257.40
For the week, the three major indexes notched slight gains.
Consumer discretionary stocks were led by Time Warner, which rose more than 7% amid reports the firm has engaged in talks for a deal to be bought out by AT&T, which dragged the telecommunications sector lower.
In corporate news, Dow component General Electric reported mixed results Friday before the open, beating estimates on earnings but missing on revenues. GE also narrowed its 2016 earnings per share guidance.
Meanwhile, Microsoft, another Dow component, posted better-than-expected results across the board on Thursday.
In all, 80% of the 116 S&P components that had reported as of Friday morning had beaten Wall Street's earnings estimates, while 65% had beaten revenue estimates.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury gained ground, dropping yields 1.74% from Thursday’s 1.75%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices up 27 cents at $50.90 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices squeezed higher 30 cents to $1,267.80 U.S. an ounce.
