Stocks Ended Higher Despite Shutdown

U.S. stocks ended higher Friday but closed mostly lower for the week, as investors stayed sensitive to news about the government shutdown. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 76.10 points, or 0.51%, to 15,072.58, but was down 1.2% for the week. The S&P 500 rose 11.84 points, or 0.71%, to 1,690.50, but was down 0.1% for the week. The Nasdaq Composite climbed 33.41 points, or 0.89%, to 3,807.75 and was up 0.7% for the week.

Lockheed Martin will furlough 3,000 employees on Monday and potentially more in coming weeks due to the government shutdown. The defense contractor said Friday that the furloughs will affect its business nationwide and it is working closely with customers to assess the impact.

Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond President Jeffrey Lacker said Friday there are
“significant limits” on the central bank’s ability to boost the economy, the latest
criticism he has leveled at the central bank’s bond-buying program.

Excitement for Twitter’s coming IPO is running pretty high – so much so that some
investors on Friday mistook the nearly worthless stock of long-dead electronics retailer Tweeter for the tweeting site, sending shares up more than 1,000 percent.