Wall Street pares earlier gains to finish week mixed

U.S. stocks on Friday rebounded from their two-day losses but trimmed earlier gains to end the week mixed, weighed by a pair of major economic data. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 58.83 points, or 0.36 percent, to 16,323.06. The S&P 500 added 8.58 points, or 0.46 percent, to 1,857.62. The Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 4.53 points, or 0.11 percent, to 4,155.76. U.S. stocks rallied earlier after data showed U.S. personal income and spending increased broadly in line with expectations in February. Both U.S. personal income and consumer spending rose 0.3 percent in February, according to the Commerce Department, with the former beating market expectations and the latter matching analysts' forecast. However, the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index's final reading in March came out at 80.0, missing market consensus of 80.5. "It seems to me sentiment is strong again here in the U.S.," Joseph Greco, managing director-trading & sales at Meridian, told Xinhua Friday, adding there is a key technique level of 1,862 points for the S&P 500 to be tested. For the week, the Dow was up 0.1 percent, while the broader S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq went down 0.5 percent and 2.8 percent, respectively. "This week was absolutely characterized by rolling out of momentum stocks and into intrinsic-valued and strong-story stocks, " he said. As key source data released this week came in on the soft side of expectations, JPMorgan economists revised down their estimate of real U.S. annualized gross domestic product growth in the first quarter from 2.0 percent to 1.5 percent, while leaving their projection for the second quarter unchanged at 2.5 percent, JPMorgan Chief U.S. Economist Michael Feroli said Friday. Looking ahead to next week, Greco believed it probably will be a quiet week, citing no major macro news due to be released. He also expected inflows of pensions to continue in the market, which would help lift stocks higher gradually. In corporate news, retailer giant Wal-Mart reportedly has sued Visa Inc for 5 billion U.S. dollars, alleging that the credit card company fixed swipe fees. In response, Wal-Mart's shares decreased 0.17 percent while Visa's shares dropped 1.71 percent at midday. In other markets, the U.S. dollar edged up against most major currencies but it declined against the euro after rising for three consecutive days. In late New York trading, the euro rose to 1.3751 U.S. dollars from 1.3747 dollars in the previous session. The U.S. dollar bought 102.80 Japanese yen, higher than 102.17 yen of the previous session. Oil prices extended gains Friday as data showed U.S. personal income and spending increased broadly in February. Light, sweet crude for May delivery edged up 39 cents to settle at 101.67 U.S. dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gold futures on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange closed lower Friday as U.S. economy keeps recovering. The most active gold contract for June delivery dropped 0.5 U.S. dollar, or 0.04 percent, to settle at 1,294.3 dollars per ounce.