US stocks end mildly lower amid earnings

 U.S. stocks closed modestly lower after wavering in a narrow range Friday, as investors were digesting corporate earnings reports amid falling oil prices.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 55.52 points, or 0.31 percent, to 17,690.46. The S&P 500 lost 4.71 points, or 0.22 percent, to 2,103.92. The Nasdaq Composite Index edged down 0.50 point, or 0.01 percent, to 5,128.28.

Exxon Mobil announced Friday that it earned 4.2 billion U.S. dollars in the second quarter of 2015, compared with 8.8 billion dollars a year earlier. Analysts said its quarterly profit declined sharply on falling oil prices. The largest U.S. oil company's shares slumped 4.58 percent to 79.21 dollars apiece.

Chevron Corporation dropped 4.89 percent to 88.48 dollars a share after posting its worst quarterly result in several years. The company reported earnings of 571 million dollars for the second quarter 2015, compared with earnings of 5.7 billion dollars in the second quarter a year ago.

Latest data from Thomson Reuters showed that the S&P 500 companies' blended earnings in the second quarter of 2015 are expected to increase 0.9 percent year on year, while the revenue is forecast to decline 3.3 percent.

Meanwhile, the diving oil prices also weighed on market sentiment. U.S. crude tumbled nearly 3 percent Friday as U.S. oil companies added more oil rigs this week despite the collapse in crude prices.

As a result, the energy sector plunged 2.60 percent as the greatest decliner in the S&P 500 Friday.

On the economic front, the final reading of Thomson Reuters/ University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index came in at 93.1 for July, down from 96.1 in June.

For the week, the Dow added 0.7 percent, and the S&P 500 increased 1.2 percent, while the Nasdaq was up 0.8 percent.

The CBOE Volatility Index, often referred to as Wall Street's fear gauge, mildly decreased 0.08 percent to end at 12.12 Friday.

In other markets, oil prices dived as traders worried that global supplies exceed the demand.

The West Texas Intermediate for September delivery moved down 1. 4 dollars to settle at 47.12 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for September delivery decreased 1.1 dollars to close at 52.21 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Future Exchange.

Gold futures rose on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange as the U.S. Employment Cost Index report was much worse than expected.

The most active gold contract for December delivery rose 6.4 dollars, or 0.59 percent, to settle at 1,095.10 dollars per ounce.

The U.S. dollar fell against most major currencies as economic data from the country came out weaker than expected, dampening market sentiment for a rate hike soon.

In late New York trading, the euro rose to 1.0981 dollars from 1.0921 dollars in the previous session, while the dollar bought 123.93  Japan ese yen, lower than 124.24 yen of the previous session.