Winning Streak for Stocks Comes to Halt

Stocks closed down at the end of Friday trading, the eighth anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks in 2001.

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

The Reuters/University of Michigan preliminary index of consumer sentiment rose to 70.2, its best reading since June and 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 survey said.

"The weak dollar presses all assets higher: gold, oil, even stocks," said Jamie Cox, Managing Partner of Harris Financial Group in Colonial Heights, Va. "Everything is catching a bid with the weak dollar play. That’s the key issue for today and probably for the rest of the year."

Strong economic data from China helped keep stocks moving forward. Chinese industrial output rose 12%, new loans increased and retail sales climbed 15%. Concerns that banks could curb lending later this year had earlier hurt Chinese stocks. The Shanghai Composite Index advanced 2.2% on Friday.

Signs of strength abroad put fresh pressure on the dollar, which has fallen to its lowest levels of the year this week amid signs that overseas economies may be pulling out of recession more quickly than the U.S. The greenback continued to fall against the euro and was especially weak against the yen, dropping to 90.85 yen in recent trading, compared to 91.70 late Thursday in New York.

The weakness in the dollar pushed gold futures to $1,007 an ounce as of 4:02 p.m., near the highest level since February.

Crude futures traded on the Nymex closed down $2.75 to $69.29. It rose 5 cents in late trading to $69.34 a barrel.

Dow Jones Newswires contributed to this report.