Stocks Finished on a High Note

U. S. stocks ended the week on a high note on Friday, after better-than-expected results from personal-computer maker Hewlett-Packard Co. and an upbeat report on German business confidence. The Dow gained 119.95 points, or 0.86%, to end at 14,000.57; for the week, it rose 0.1%. The S&P 500 index rose 13.18 points, or 0.88%, to end at 1,515.60; however, for the week the index fell 0.3%, breaking its seven-week winning streak. The Nasdaq Composite index climbed 30.33 points, or 0.97%, to end at 3,161.82; for the week, it dropped 1%.

The price of oil broke two days of steep losses Friday and scrambled back to above $93 a barrel. By early afternoon in Europe, benchmark crude for April delivery was up 30 cents to $93.14 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Federal tax refunds are arriving later than expected for some lower-income Americans due in part to closer scrutiny of earned income tax credit claims by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, the IRS said on Friday.

A judge handed outspoken hedge fund manager David Einhorn a victory in his court battle with Apple Inc on Friday, blocking the iPhone maker from moving forward with a shareholder vote on a controversial proposal to limit the company’s ability to issue preferred stock.
 
Shares of HMS advanced Friday after the medical services company’s fourth-quarter net income rose 80 percent, surpassing Wall Street’s expectations. Net income increased to $20 million, or 23 cents per share, from $11.1 million, or 13 cents per share. Revenue rose 34 percent, to $133.1 million from $99.7 million.