U.S. blue-chip stocks edge up, off 3% for week

 Supercommittee faces Nov. 23 deadline for cutting U.S. deficit

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- U.S. blue-chip stocks rose Friday as a gauge of leading indicators climbed, boosting views of the U.S. economy. But the major indexes lost about 3% for the week, their worst performance in nearly two months. 

“Today we had some good U.S. economic news, and it continues a string of good news on the economy,” Mitch Schlesinger, chief investment officer at FBB Capital Partners, said of the Conference Board’s index of leading economic indicators, which climbed 0.9% in October, its biggest jump since February. 

“Expectations are pretty good for the retail environment in the U.S., and most of the data we’ve seen recently is supportive of a moderately growing U.S. economy despite what is going on in the rest of the world,” said Schlesinger. 

The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA +0.22%   ended up 25.43 points, or 0.2%, to 11,796.16, off 2.9% from last Friday’s close. That was its worst week since Sept. 23. 

Twenty-one of index’s 30 blue-chip, or established-company components advanced, led by Hewlett-Packard Co. HPQ -0.32% . Shares rose 2.6% a day after the personal-computer maker said it had added Ralph Whitworth of hedge fund Relational Investors LLC to its board. 

Down 3.8% on the week, the S&P 500 Index SPX -0.04%   ended down 0.5 point, or 0.04%, at 1,215.65 Friday, with utilities and financial companies faring best and technology and energy the weakest performers among its 10 industry groups. It was also the S&P 500’s worst week since Sept. 23. 

Leading declines on the S&P 500, shares of Salesforce.com Inc. CRM +0.46%  fell 10% a day after the provider of Web-based customer-management software projected a lackluster fourth quarter.

The Nasdaq Composite COMP -0.60%   fell 15.49 points, or 0.6%, to 2,572.50, a level that has it down nearly 4% from last Friday’s close.  

For every stock falling more than one gained on the New York Stock Exchange, where 956 million shares traded. NYSE Composite volume was about 3.8 billion, under the year-to-date daily average. 

Gold futures for December delivery GC1Z +0.34%   finished the week at $1,725.10 an ounce, while crude-oil futures for December delivery CL1Z -1.38% , the benchmark contract that expired Friday, closed at $97.41 a barrel. More actively traded January CL2F -1.15%  closed at $97.67 a barrel, down more than 1%

 

Source;  http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-stocks-begin-with-limited-gains-2011-11-18