Better-than-expected earnings from General Electric helped lift the Dow and S&P 500. The Nasdaq closed lower after disappointing results from chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices. Overall, the week's strong earnings bode well for coming corporate reports.
Improving economic conditions, strong corporate profits and the Fed's easy money have some money managers bullish on equities going into 2011. Plus, companies are staring to deploy their cash hoards on M&A, dividends and share buybacks. [Video]
Stocks closed modestly mixed on light volume Friday in the last full trading week of the year, which marked the third week in a row of overall gains. While drugmakers Pfizer and Merck put a damper on the Dow, robust earnings from Oracle and Research In Motion helped lift tech stocks.
Volatility started picking up in the last few sessions, and now that a downbeat Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has made another round of stimulus all but certain, traders are taking notice that things aren't nearly as good as they could be.