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Oil prices rattle market; Dow eeks out small weekly gain

The major stock indexes ended the week flat after soaring oil prices soured Friday trading. Traders shrugged off a report that the unemployment rate fell to its lowest level in nearly two years.
/ Source: The Associated Press

Soaring oil prices soured trading Friday as the major indexes shrugged off a report that the unemployment rate fell to its lowest level in nearly two years. The Dow ended the week with a small gain.

Crude oil rose 2.2 percent to more than $104 a barrel, its highest level since September 2008, after fighting in Libya escalated. Markets have been rattled over the past two weeks as higher oil prices threaten to undermine the economic recovery by increasing transportation and production costs.

Higher energy prices sent stocks lower despite news that the U.S. job market is improving. The Labor Department reported that unemployment rate dipped to 8.9 percent from 9 percent the previous month. The rate has dropped for three months in a row and is now at its lowest level since April 2009. Employers added 192,000 jobs in February, in the range of what economists expected.

"They're tugging at each other, employment and oil," said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer of Harris Private Bank. "Oil is high enough that it has to be a concern. The longer it remains at this level the greater the chance that it upends our recovery.

The Dow Jones industrial average closed the day down 88.3 points, or 0.7 percent, to 12,170. The Dow ended the week up 39.4 points. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 9.8, or 0.7 percent, to 1,321. The Nasdaq composite index fell 14, or 0.5 percent, to 2,785.

Two stocks fell for every one that rose on the New York Stock Exchange. Volume came to 1 billion shares.

All 10 company groups that make up the S&P index fell. Financial companies fell 1.7 percent, the largest drop. Citigroup Inc. fell 3.3 percent and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. fell 1.8 percent, after Bank of America analysts trimmed their earnings forecasts for the two banks. Analysts expect investors to turn more cautious with their cash, which would lead to a drop in the banks' trading revenue.

All 30 stocks that make up the Dow average fell, led by a 2.1 percent drop for General Electric Co. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. had the smallest loss, falling only 0.3 percent. Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, raised its annual dividend 21 percent Friday.

The Dow average slumped 323 points over three days last week as the conflict in Libya deepened. Investors worry that the uprisings that have already toppled regimes in Tunisia and Egypt could spread to major oil-producing countries in the region and disrupt the flow of crude.

Bond prices rose, sending their yields lower. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 3.50 percent from 3.56 percent late Thursday.