It was a divided market to close the week, with the Dow lagging behind the Nasdaq. Concerns about foreclosures weighed on financial stocks. The Nasdaq was a different story. Google fueled a rally in technology stocks after posting strong earnings. On Friday shares of Google hit their highest level since January and closed up 11.4% at 601.45.

•  Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke added to expectations for another round of stimulus. Bernanke said in a speech in Boston that inflation is too low and unemployment is too high.
• A closely-watched reading of consumer confidence was a let-down.  The University of Michigan’s index suggested consumers are less likely this month to purchase big-ticket items like cars.

On Friday, the Dow closed down 31 points at 11,062. NYSE volume totaled over 1.4 billion shares. The S&P 500 finished up 2 points at 1176. The Nasdaq gained 33 points to 2468. Declining issues beat advancers 3-2 on the NYSE and by 13-12 on the Nasdaq. The 10-year Treasury note fell 15/32 to yield 2.56%.

For the week, the Dow was up 56 points, or 0.5%. The S&P 500 gained 11 points, or 1%. The Nasdaq closed up 66 points for the week, or 2.8%.  Gold closed the week up 1.5%. 

The US Dollar continued its slide through Thursday then managed to post a modest comeback Friday.  Commodities tend to move in the inverse of the dollar and we did see them trade higher the first part of the week and then pull back on Friday.