Stocks Ended Mixed, Posting Weekly Gains

U.S. stocks finished little changed on Friday, but higher for the week, after labor market data was weaker than expected and concern remained about possible military action by the West against Syria. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 14.98 points, or 0.10%, to 14,922.50. The S&P 500 index was up 0.09 point, or 0.01%, at 1,655.17. The Nasdaq Composite climbed 1.23 points, or 0.03%, to 3,660.01. For the week, the S&P 500 finished up 1.4 percent and the Nasdaq was up 2 percent. The Dow rose 0.8 percent to snap a streak of four weekly declines.

Johnson & Johnson has launched a sale process for its Ortho Clinical Diagnostics unit, which makes blood screening equipment and laboratory blood tests and could fetch around $5 billion, three people familiar with the matter said on Friday.

Verizon Communications Inc has been sued by a shareholder seeking to void its $130 billion (83 billion pounds) buyout of Vodafone Group Plc’s stake in the companies’ wireless joint venture on the grounds the price is too high.

Apple Inc. (AAPL) is planning to ship a new low-cost iPhone to China Mobile, marking the first time the massive wireless carrier will carry the smartphone, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday afternoon.