Stocks slip lower but post healthy gains for week

From wire reports

May 17, 2008

NEW YORK - Wall Street capped a week of big gains with modest moves yesterday as investors grappled with surging energy prices that overshadowed news of a surprise increase in home construction.

Despite uneasiness over energy costs, stocks posted strong gains for the week. The broader market, as measured by the Standard & Poor's 500 index, rose 2.7 percent for the week. The S&P 500 index ticked up 1.78 to 1,425.35 yesterday.

The Dow Jones industrial average slipped 5.86, closing at 12,986.80. For the week, the Dow rose 1.89 percent.

The Nasdaq composite index fell 4.88 to 2,528.85 yesterday, but still jumped 3.41 percent for the week. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq remain at five-month highs.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies slid 2.21 to 741.17.

The Sun-Bloomberg index of the top stocks in Maryland lost 0.37 to 317.97. T. Rowe Price Group Inc. dropped $1.51 to $62.05, while Chindex International Inc. fell $1.02 to $24.43.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by about 8-to-7 on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to 1.31 billion shares.

David Kelly, chief market strategist at JPMorgan Funds, said investors will likely continue to worry about oil prices but that there is a sense that if the economy is in a recession it likely will prove to be a mild one. He said stocks have been able to advance from their mid-March lows because fears of worsening troubles in the credit market have receded somewhat.

"I think oil is still the worrying wild card in all of this, but the central theme of this year is that we are gradually moving from the credit storm to the economic storm. At this stage the economic storm is essentially getting downgraded from a hurricane to a nor'easter," he said.

Overseas, Japan's Nikkei stock average slipped 0.23 percent; Britain's FTSE 100 finished up 0.84 percent; Germany's DAX index rose 1.07 percent; and France's CAC-40 rose 0.41 percent.

The Associated Press and Bloomberg News contributed to this article.

Stock of interest

General Electric Co.

Shares declined 24 cents to close at $32.13. The industrial conglomerate will sell or spin off its appliance business, which has been hit hard by a domestic housing slump and economic slowdown.