Stocks Ended Worst Week Since June

U.S. stocks closed their worst week in four months nearly unchanged on Friday, after the first round of U.S. corporate earnings reports failed to get investors excited. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 2.46 points, or 0.02%, to 13,328.85, off 2.1% for the week. The S&P 500 index shed 4.25 points, or 0.30%, to 1,428.59, leaving it down 2.2% from the week-ago close. The Nasdaq Composite declined 5.30 points, or 0.17%, to 3,044.11.

Consumer sentiment has jumped up again, pushing past analysts’ expectations to stand at the highest level in more than five years, according to data released Friday. The Thomson-Reuters University of Michigan sentiment index unexpectedly jumped in early October to 83.1. The index blew past its final-September 78.3 reading to the highest level since September 2007, just as the lastexpansion was ending.
A group of retailers and trade groups has launched a last-ditch effort to stop a settlement worth at least $6 billion that Visa Inc., MasterCard Inc. and major banks have agreed to pay retailers for alleged fee fixing.

Crude-oil prices fell Friday as investors headed into the weekend assessing an estimate of weaker demand this year while they kept watch on Middle East tension. Crude oil for November delivery lost 21 cents, or 0.2%, to settle at $91.86 a barrel, but prices swung between gains and losses during the session.

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