Stocks Finished Higher for the Week

U.S. stocks ended mostly lower on Friday but finished higher for the week after President Donald Trump German Chancellor Angela Merkel had their first official meeting. The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 19.93 points, or 0.10%, to 20,914.62. For the week, the Dow closed up less than 0.1%. The S&P 500 was down 3.13 points, or 0.13%, to 2,378.25. For the week, the S&P 500 closed up 0.2%. The Nasdaq Composite was up 0.24 point, to 5,901.00, for a 0.7% gain on the week.

On Friday, the latest consumer sentiment numbers from the University of Michigan released Friday showed that in March confidence rose again, as the index of consumer sentiment rose to 97.6 from a final reading of 96.3 in February.

Oil settled a few pennies higher on Friday to tally a weekly gain, even as data showed a significant increase in the number of active U.S. oil rigs, implying the potential for a further climb in domestic crude production. April West Texas Intermediate crude rose 3 cents, or less than 0.1%, to settle at $48.78 a barrel. May Brent crude rose 2 cents to $51.76 a barrel.

MuleSoft shares popped more than 45 percent in their trading debut, beating Snap for the best first day IPO gains so far this year.The stock was listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “MULE.” The company priced its 13 million share offering at $17 a share on Thursday, above the expected range of $14 to $16.