Investors cash in some of this week's stock gains

NEW YORK -- Wall Street turned in a mixed performance Friday as investors set aside some initial enthusiasm over a stronger-than-expected jobs report to lock in some of their recent gains. Blue chip stocks logged their third weekly advance in a row as investors grew more confident about the economy's ability to outrun a deep downturn.

The reports on employment and the pace of orders at factories offered the market fresh evidence that the economy might not be in as worrisome a state as many had feared. But a surprise quarterly loss from Sun Microsystems Inc. weighed on the tech-laden Nasdaq composite index.

Still, buyers outnumbered sellers after a government report showed the nation's employers cut far fewer jobs than expected last month, stirring optimism about the buoyancy of the economy.

Dave Rovelli, managing director of U.S. equity trading at Canaccord Adams, said stocks pulled back from the day's highs because many investors opted to hold on to gains following a decent run-up, including a 190-point surge in the Dow Jones industrials on Thursday.

"This is just normal profit-taking," he said, adding: "Sun Microsystem's earnings today didn't help the cause."

The employment report Friday came at the end of a critical week for Wall Street. While corporate results dominated in previous weeks, investors focused this week on the Federal Reserve's decision Wednesday to lower interest rates and on reports on the nation's gross domestic product, personal spending and factory orders.

The Fed's decision to lower the benchmark fed funds rate by a quarter point to 2 percent and widespread speculation that it will stand pat at future meetings boosted investors' confidence. The Fed's comments helped shore up an anemic dollar and calmed some fears about inflation.

For the week, the Dow gained 1.29 percent, while the S&P 500 added 1.15 percent and the Nasdaq rose 2.23 percent. It was the third straight weekly advance for the Dow and the S&P 500.

Richard Sparks, a senior equity analyst at Schaeffer's Investment Research, noted that on Thursday and Friday the S&P 500 closed over the 1,400 mark for the first time since January.

"If we're able to continue above it, or if the S&P 500 is able to hold onto that level, that's going to be a big positive for the market," he said.

"We've had several good weeks running here so it doesn't surprise me at all to see a little bit of a sell-off," he said of Friday's session.