Hopes for Greece debt deal lifts stocks

Stocks gave up some ground Friday afternoon but could still have their first week of gains since April.

The Dow Jones industrial average had been up as many as 111 points after Germany softened its stance on conditions for giving Greece new loans. In afternoon trading the Dow was up 41 points to 12,002.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel indicated that private investors would not be forced to take losses in the next package of loans. The loans would help Greece avoid a default, which would be disastrous for global markets and could push other weak European nations like Portugal and Spain into their own debt crises.

Earlier in the week, a quick resolution to Greece's debt crisis seemed unlikely. That led investors to dump stocks and the euro in favor of safer assets like the dollar and U.S. government bonds.

The S&P 500 rose 5, or 0.4 percent, to 1,272.

Bad news from BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd. helped pull the technology-focused Nasdaq composite index down 3, or 0.1 percent, to 2,621.

RIM plummeted 21 percent after giving a surprisingly weak forecast for the current quarter and the remainder of the year. RIM is struggling to compete with Apple Inc.'s iPhone and Android phones. Technology companies in the S&P 500, like Intel Corp. and Cisco Systems Inc., fell 0.2 percent.

Credit research firm Moody's Corp. dropped 7 percent, the most in the S&P 500, after analysts said Europe's debt woes could reduce demand for the company's analysis of debt risk. McGraw-Hill Cos., which owns rival rating agency Standard & Poor's, fell 5 percent. And BJ's Wholesale Club Inc. rose nearly 1 percent after two private equity firms made a bid for the warehouse club chain.

The hopes for a solution to Greece's debt problem pushed the price of lower-risk investments like government bonds lower. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note rose to 2.94 percent early Friday from 2.90 percent Thursday. Bond yields rise when prices fall.