Four-Week Rally Ends as Traders Take Profits

A bumpy session brought a five-week rally to an end.

Stocks were mixed Friday, as institutional investors rebalanced their portfolios on a quadruple witching day. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gave back its early gains to stand down 16 points to 8538. That level represented a 3% dip for the week, the first in five the Dow hadn't increased. The Nasdaq rose 19 to 1827, and the S&P 500 gained 2 at 921.

Today's session falls on a quarterly quadruple witching day, in which equity options, index options, stock futures and index futures expire simultaneously. The result is typically heavy and somewhat volatile trading as funds and other institutional investors reassess their holdings.

World markets were broadly higher after U.S. markets got a boost Thursday on largely positive economic data. In Asia, Japan's Nikkei picked up 0.9%, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng advanced 0.8%. In Europe, the major indexes of London, Frankfurt and Paris each ended higher.

The global economy got a vote of confidence from the Internal Monetary Fund. The decline in global output is slowing, which should trigger a change in the IMF's growth estimate for 2010, IMF First Deputy Managing Director John Lipsky said. Still, he offered a caution sign. "While the latest data point to a slowing of the global contraction, there is still great uncertainty regarding the timing and pace of economic recovery," he said in prepared remarks at a business conference in Turkey.

Commodities followed the broader market lower. Crude traded down $1.79 cents at $69.58 a barrel.

Looking ahead, next week will be a busy one for economic data. On Tuesday, traders will get a look at the May data on new and existing home sales. On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve hands down its latest policy statement on interest rates, and on Friday, the Commerce Department releases its May readings on personal income and spending.