Stocks Ended Mixed and Logged Modest Weekly Declines

U.S. stocks ended mixed on Friday, leaving major benchmarks modestly lower for the week, as traders watched Washington lawmakers hold at an impasse over advancing another round of virus-relief measures. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 47.11 points, or 0.16%, to 30,046.37. The S&P 500 was off 4.64 points, or 0.13%, to 3,663.46. The Nasdaq Composite declined 27.94 points, or 0.23%, to 12,377.87. For the week, the Dow declined 0.6%, the S&P 500 saw a 1% decline and the Nasdaq fell 0.7%.

Oil futures ended lower on Friday, but notched a weekly gain as investors took their cue from progress on the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines which may help the economic recovery. West Texas Intermediate crude for January delivery fell by 21 cents, or nearly 0.5%, to settle at $46.57 a barrel. February Brent crude lost 28 cents, or 0.6%, at $49.97 a barrel. WTI registered a 0.7% weekly rise though, while Brent tacked on 1.5%.