Stocks and most exchange-traded funds finished down Friday following mixed economic data.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 42 to end the session at 9665, a 1.6% slide for the week. The Nasdaq dropped 17 to 2091, and the S&P 500 shed 6 to 1044.

"I think we're at a bit of a crossroads. I do think that the underlying trend of the market will still be positive going forward," said Bob Philips, managing partner at Spectrum Management Group in Indianapolis. "Would I make the case that the market is totally reflective of fundamentals? No, I would say it's ahead of the recovery, but that's often how it is in this phase."

Manufacturers' orders for durable goods, which are expected to last at least three years, dropped by 2.4% last month to a seasonally adjusted $164.44 billion, hurt by lower aircraft demand. Economists had projected orders would climb 0.3%.

New home sales for August went flat after four months of increases, the Commerce Department reported.

However, consumer sentiment jumped at the end of September, according to the Reuters/University of Michigan index, which indicated levels were at their highest since early 2008.

At the G-20 summit of world leaders in Pittsburgh, President Barack Obama, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Iran was building a secret nuclear plant to produce nuclear fuel. They called on the country to grant the International Atomic Energy Agency access to the facility to ensure it would not be used for nuclear weapons production. President Obama said "the size and configuration of this facility is inconsistent with a peaceful program."

For a detailed rundown on Friday's trading session see our market story.

Winners

A week-long slide in crude prices had an upbeat inverse in natural gas, pushing shares of the United States Natural Gas fund up 4.6% for the week. A tepid showing for stocks sent investors to less volatile investments, pushing the iShares S&P U.S. Preferred Stock Index fund for corporate debt rated BBB or better 2.0% higher.

Losers

Weak existing home sales and flat new home sales for August eroded the foundations of the SPDR S&P Homebuilders by 7.6%. The United States Oil fund dropped 6.0% as crude prices ended Friday just above $66 a barrel after a volatile trading week.

Launching Pad
Barclays Global Investors announced the launch of three mega-cap exchange-traded funds Friday. The iShares Russell Top 200 Index Fund, iShares Russell Top 200 Growth Index Fund and the iShares Russell Top 200 Value Index Fund began trading on the New York Stock Exchange. The Russell Top 200 indexes measure the performance of the largest 200 U.S.-listed companies. All three funds have annual expense ratios of 0.2%.

State Street Global Advisors, the investment management unit of State Street , oversaw the launch of the SPDR S&P VRDO Municipal Bond ETF, which began trading Thursday on the New York Stock Exchange. The fund tracks the price and yield performance of the S&P National AMT-Free Municipal VRDO Index, an index of variable rate demand obligations (VRDOs), an asset class exempt from federal taxes and often state and local income taxes. It charges an annual expense ratio of 0.2%.

Exchange-traded fund provider Global X Funds filed a prospectus with the Securities and Exchange Commission to launch six new China-themed ETFs. The Global X Consumer, Energy, Financials, Industrials, Materials and Technology funds will track different sectors of the Chinese economy. The company said the funds will be 80% invested in American Depositary Receipts and Global Depositary Receipts, and 20% invested in swaps and options contracts. The filing also said Global X Funds seeks to register seven more overseas-focused funds: Global X Denmark, Emerging Africa, Finland, Norway, Pakistan, Poland and United Arab Emirates.

The Thomson Reuters/Jefferies CRB Global Commodity Equity Index fun began trading Monday on the New York Stock Exchange. The fund, sponsored by APLS, tracks a diversified global index holding 145 companies that produce energy, agricultural, raw metals and precious metals. The fund charges an annual expense ratio of 0.65%.

Data Point
Pensions and Investments magazine reported Monday that large institutional investors played a major role in the 25% year-over-year increase of assets under management by exchange-traded funds. At the start of September, U.S. ETFs had $891 billion under management. Price plays a strong role in the growth of ETFs: The average ETF charges 0.32% a year, a drop of 20 basis points from 2006, according to Morningstar and Barclays Global Investors.

ETFS Marketing, manager of the ETFS Physical Silver Shares and ETFS Physical Swiss Gold Shares, announced it has hired Garrett Smith as senior vice president for sales. The two funds had $217 million in assets under management as of Sept. 22. Smith formerly worked at Claymore Securities assisting in the development of ETF distribution and marketing strategies, and was previously with Rydex Investments, where he was involved in launching about 30 exchange-traded funds.

Earnings and Conference Calls

Monday
Cal-Maine Foods, TRC Companies

Tuesday
Allscripts-Misys Healthcare Solutions, China Precision Steel, Darden Restaurants, Jabil Circuit, Landec, Micron Technology, Nike, Sealy, SMF Energy, Walgreen, Worthington Industries

Wednesday
Actuant, Aehr Test Systems, Diamond Foods, Lawson Software

Thursday
Accenture, Constellation Brands, CRA International, DemandTec, Global Payments, Immucor, Resources Global Professionals, Richelieu Hardware, Smart Modular Technologies, SMSC

Friday
No earnings scheduled

Economic Data

Monday
No major economic indicators.

Tuesday
7:45 a.m. ICSC-Goldman Store Sales
8:55 a.m. Redbook
9:00 a.m. S&P Case-Shiller Housing Price Index
10:00 a.m. Consumer Confidence
10:00 a.m. State Street Investor Confidence Index

Wednesday
7:00 a.m. MBA Purchase Applications
8:15 a.m. ADP Employment Report
8:30 a.m. GDP (Q2 Final)
8:30 a.m. Corporate Profits
9:45 a.m. Chicago PMI
10:30 a.m. EIA Petroleum Status Report

Thursday
7:30 a.m. Challenger Job-Cut Report
8:30 a.m. Personal Income and Outlays
8:30 a.m. Jobless Claims
10:00 a.m. ISM Manufacturing Index
10:00 a.m. Construction Spending
10:00 a.m. Pending Home Sales Index
10:30 a.m. EIA Natural Gas Report
4:30 p.m. Fed Balance Sheet

Friday
8:30 a.m. Employment Situation
10:00 a.m. Factory Orders