Stocks ended a five-day upswing with small declines Friday, but major indexes still posted their best weekly gains since July. Most exchange-traded funds ended the week on the positive side.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished down 22 at 9605. The Dow also closed at 9605 on Sept. 10, 2001 the day before the terror attacks eight years ago. The Nasdaq closed down 3 at 2081, and the S&P 500 was down 1 at 1043.

That was still a 1.5% gain for the week, which boosted the shares of most exchange-traded funds.

While it didn t seem to help Friday s trading, the Reuters/University of Michigan preliminary index of consumer sentiment rose to 70.2, its best reading since June. That s a sign that consumers are starting, slowly, to believe the economy is getting better. Confidence rebounded in early September as consumers increasingly expected the economy to improve despite their reluctant conclusion that their own financial situation would remain quite problematic for some time, the report said.

Weakness in the dollar pushed gold futures to $1,007 an ounce as of 4 p.m., near the highest level since February.

Crude futures traded Friday on the Nymex closed down $2.75 to $69.29. For a detailed rundown on Friday s trading session see our market story.

Winners

First Trust ISE-Revere Natural Gas Index fund climbed 10.7% as energy prices took big swings through the week. The iShares Dow Jones Transportation Average Index fund (IYT) rose 5.3% for the week as investors gravitated back to the industrials sector.

Losers

The Market Vectors Gold Miners fund took a net drop of 1.5% for the week as investors took profits on gold's spikes above $1,000 an ounce. The SPDR KBW Bank fund slipped 1.3% for the week as financial stocks were sold off ahead of the rest of the market on downward swings.

This Week s Industry News

Data Point
State Street Global Advisors reported that assets in the U.S. ETF industry totaled $661 billion as of Aug. 31, after climbing $20.8 billion, or 3.3%, during the month. The firm said 27 ETF managers run a total of 755 exchange-traded funds in the United States.

Launching Pad
Investors can get a share of physical gold bullion through a fund ETF Securities USA launched Thursday. The ETFS Gold Trust is the only U.S. exchange-traded fund linked to bullion stored in a secured Swiss custodial vault, the company said. The fund charges an expense ratio of 0.39%.

Money manager Harry Dent's strategy will be put to the ETF test when the AdvisorShares Dent Tactical ETF, an actively managed fund, launches on Tuesday. AdvisorShares, based in Bethesda, Md., said the fund will follow a quick-reaction strategy that works well in volatile markets. Dent runs HS Dent Investment Management, which is based in Tampa, Fla. The fund charges an expense ratio of 1.56%.

Earnings and Conference Calls

Monday
National Technical Systems, Pall, Peerless Manufacturing, SteelCloud, Sycamore Networks

Tuesday
Adobe Systems, Best Buy, Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, Kroger

Wednesday
Apogee Enterprises, CKE Restaurants, Dress Barn, Dynamex, Herman Miller, Oracle, Volt Information Sciences

Thursday
Discover Financial Services, FedEx, IHS Palm, Pier 1 Imports, Marcus, Pro-Dex, Schiff Nutrition International, Somanetics

Friday
Point.360

Economic Data

Monday
No major economic indicators.

Tuesday
7:45 a.m. ICSC-Goldman Store Sales
8:30 a.m. Producer Price Index
8:30 a.m. Retail Sales
8:30 a.m. Empire State Manufacturing Survey
8:55 a.m. Redbook
10:00 a.m. Business Inventories

Wednesday
7:00 a.m. MBA Purchase Applications
8:30 a.m. Consumer Price Index
8:30 a.m. Current Account
9:00 a.m. Treasury International Capital
9:15 a.m. Industrial Production
10:30 a.m. EIA Petroleum Status Report
1:00 p.m. Housing Market Index

Thursday
8:30 a.m. Housing Starts
8:30 a.m. Jobless Claims
10:00 a.m. Philadelphia Fed Survey
10:30 a.m. EIA Natural Gas Report
4:30 p.m. Fed Balance Sheet
4:30 p.m. Money Supply

Friday
No major economic indicators.