Stocks Ended Mostly Lower, Oil Prices Settled Sharply Higher

U.S. stocks ended mostly lower on Friday, but posted solid gains for the week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 76.42 points, or 0.33%, to 23,062.40. The S&P 500 declined 3.09 points, or 0.12%, to 2,485.74. The Nasdaq Composite added 5.03 points, or 0.08%, to 6,584.52. For the week, the Dow rose 2.8%, the S&P 500 climbed 2.9%, while the Nasdaq registered a weekly gain of 4%.

U.S. oil futures settled sharply higher on Friday after government inventory data showed a smaller-than-expected fall in crude inventories. West Texas Intermediate crude for February delivery rose 72 cents, or 1.6%, to end at $45.33 a barrel. February Brent crude edged up 4 cents, or less than 0.1%, to finish at $52.20 a barrel.