Dow struggles to first weekly gain in 3 weeks

Updated: 6:25 p.m. ET

It was a good day for McDonald's (MCD), General Electric (GE), oil-services giant Schlumberger (SLB) and Microsoft (MSFT).

It was a crummy day for Apple (AAPL) and semiconductor stocks. The result was a split stock market. The Dow Jones industrials ($INDU) and the Standard & Poor's 500 Index ($INX) finished higher. The Nasdaq Composite Index ($COMPX) tumbled, however, after Apple dropped $14.46 to $572.98, its lowest close in a month and an 11% decline from its all-time high of $644, reached on April 10.

The market's finish sets up next week as potentially dramatic. Start with the first round in the French presidential election, where incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy looks to be forced into a runoff. Add to that earnings due from Apple, Amazon.com (AMZN), Caterpillar (CAT), Exxon Mobil (XOM) ,Starbucks (SBUX) and Chevron (CVX). The Federal Reserve holds an important meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The Dow Jones industrials ($INDU) were up 65 points to 13,029. The blue chips had been up as many as 118 points. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index ($INX) was up 2 points to 1,379. But the Nasdaq Composite Index ($COMPX) dropped 7 points to 3,000.

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The Nasdaq-100 Index ($NDX) was off 11 points at 2,676. Apple's decline subtracted about 12 points from the index.

The rally for the Dow and S&P 500 followed gains for stocks in Spain and Italy. German stocks were higher after a report showed German business stronger than expected. The dollar was lower as a result, and crude oil (-CL) in New York was higher. Gold (-GC) was also higher.

For the week, the Dow gained 1.4%, with the S&P 500 up 0.6% and the Nasdaq down 0.4%. For the month, the Dow is off 1.4%, the S&P 500 off 2.1% and the Nasdaq down 3%.

For the year, the Dow is up 6.7%, with the S&P 500 up 9.7% and the Nasdaq up 15.1%.

Apple is the biggest reason for the Nasdaq's underperformance today and this month.

Apple shares fell 5.3% this week, their worst weekly performance since the week of Oct. 17, 2011. The shares are down 11% since hitting an intraday peak of $644 on April 10. A 10% decline is the common definition of a correction.

What's not clear is if the stock is off because it simply got too high and had to blow off. Or perhaps the company's results, due after Tuesday's close, will reveal other issues. The stock is still up 43% this year alone.

Markets for the week
			4/20/2012			4/13/2012			% chg.			YTD chg.
Dow Industrials			13,029.26			12,849.59			1.40%			6.64%
S&P 500			1,378.53			1,370.26			0.60%			9.62%
Nasdaq			3,000.45			3,011.33			-0.36%			15.17%
Russell 2000			804.05			796.29			0.97%			8.52%
Crude oil			$103.05			$102.83			0.21%			4.27%
(per barrel)
U.S. Dollar Index			79.31			80.55			-1.54%			-1.50%
10-yr. Treasury			1.97%			2.00%			-1.40%			5.29%
Gold			$1,642.80			1,660.20			-1.05%			4.85%

A big day for 4 big stocks
McDonald's gained 66 cents to $95.94 after reaching as high as $97.77. The fast-food giant reported a 4.8% gain in first-quarter profit as new menu items such as Chicken McBites attracted U.S. consumers.

General Electric climbed 22 cents to $19.36; its peak was $19.64. The industrials giant topped analysts' estimates for the first quarter as profit gains at the energy business, its largest industrial division, outpaced finance for the first time in two years. GE is the world's biggest maker of jet engines, power generation equipment and railroad locomotives.

Schlumberger rose $1.90 to $71.70 and was the eighth-best performer among S&P 500 stocks. The world's largest oilfield-services provider said first-quarter profit rose 38% as the number of U.S. rigs drilling for oil reached a record.

Microsoft, the publisher of MSN Money, jumped $1.41 to $32.42. The percentage gain was tops among the Dow stocks. The company reported better-than-expected​ results late Thursday and suggested that new versions of its Windows, Office and server software will be successful. The last time Microsoft had a gain of better than 5% was on Jan. 20, also after reporting decent results.

A broad rally to end the week
Six of the 10 S&P 500 sectors were higher today, along with 24 of 44 domestic indexes that Market Dispatches normally tracks. The leaders were industrial stocks, including General Electric, Boeing (BA), United Technologies (UTX), Honeywell (HON) and Caterpillar (CAT).

Financial and semiconductor stocks were the laggards. SanDisk, down $4.56 to $35.91, pulled the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index ($SOX) down 10 points to 405.

Financials were dragged lower by Bank of America (BAC), which was downgraded to "sell"  by Credit Agricole analyst Mike Mayo. Three other analysts raised the price targets on the stock, however. Bank of America was off 41 cents to $8.36.

McDonald's, Microsoft and GE accounted for some 20 points of the Dow's gain today. Twenty-three of the blue chips were higher. Bank of America was the laggard.

Some 314 S&P 500 stocks were higher, led by E*Trade (ETFC), D.R. Horton (DHI) and Microsoft. For you fun-lovers, Harley-Davidson (HOG), which reports quarterly results on Wednesday, was fourth, up $2.13 to $51.70.

Chipmakers SanDisk, Altera (ALTR), down $3.25 to $35.25, and logistics company Expeditors International of Washington (EXPD), off $3.78 to $41.96, were the laggards.

Microsoft, Adobe Systems (ADBE) and Biogen Idec (BIIB) were the Nasdaq-100 leaders. The laggards were SanDisk, Altera and Expeditors International. Microsoft contributed nearly 11 points to the index.

Forty-one Nasdaq-100 stocks were higher.

Energy prices -- New York close
			Fri.			Thur.			Month chg.			YTD chg.
Crude oil (-CL)			$103.05			$102.27			0.03%			4.27%
(per barrel)
Heating oil (-HO)			$3.1376			$3.1251			-1.03%			7.67%
(per gallon)
Natural gas (-NG)			$1.9270			$1.9070			-9.36%			-35.53%
(per mil. BTU)
Unleaded gasoline (-RB)			$3.1100			$3.1158			-5.99%			17.03%
(per gallon)
Brent crude			$118.76			$118.00			-3.35%			10.60%
(per barrel)
Retail gasoline			$3.8810			$3.8910			-1.12%			18.47%
(per gallon; AAA)

Leaders and laggards
E*Trade Financial rose 60 cents to $10.48. The online brokerage reported first-quarter revenue of $489.4 million, beating the average analyst estimate of $472.5 million. 

Honeywell International (HON) rose $1.39 to $59.39. The maker of digital flight controls and work boots posted a first-quarter profit that beat analysts' estimates and boosted its full-year forecast.

USAirways (LCC) shares were off 17 cents to $9.34. Three unions for workers at American Airlines said they would prefer to sell the carrier to USAirways. AMR, American's parent, is in Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The unions are the Allied Pilots Association, Association of Professional Flight Attendants and Transport Workers Union.

SanDisk shares was clobbered after the largest maker of flash-memory cards posted first-quarter earnings of 63 cents a share excluding one-time charges. That missed the average analyst estimate by 4 cents. The company also had its rating cut at Piper Jaffray and Credit Agricole Securities.

Tempur-Pedic International (TPX) slumped $17.22 to $66.53, its biggest one-day loss since March 2008. The maker of luxury mattresses reaffirmed its forecasts for earnings and sales in 2012. The problem: The guidance fell short of analysts' estimates.

Crude oil tops $103; retail gas falls again
Crude oil settled up 78 cents to $103.05 a barrel. Brent crude, the benchmark North Sea oil, was up 87 cents to $118.87 a barrel.

Natural gas (-NG) was up 2.2 cents to $1.927 per million British thermal units.

But the national average retail price of gasoline fell to $3.881 a gallon from Thursday's $3.891, according to AAA's Daily Fuel Gauge report. The price has fallen 11 times in the last 14 days as consumers cut back their driving to save money. The price has come down 4 cents since topping at $3.925 on March 31.

Gold settled up $1.30 to $1,642.80 an ounce. Silver (-SI) settled down 12.8 cents to $31.651 an ounce. Copper (-HG) added 7.1 cents to $3.698 a pound.

Interest rates were up slightly, with the 10-year Treasury yield reaching 1.97% from Thursday's 1.952%. The dollar was lower against major currencies.

Short hits from the markets -- New York close
			Fri.			Thur.			Month chg.			YTD chg.
Treasury yields
13-week Treasury bill			0.0700%			0.070%			0.00%			600.00%
5-year Treasury note			0.846%			0.834%			-18.89%			1.93%
10-year Treasury note			1.970%			1.952%			-11.10%			5.29%
30-year Treasury bond			3.128%			3.109%			-6.49%			8.27%
Currencies
U.S. Dollar Index			79.313			79.707			0.22%			-1.50%
British pound			1.6134			1.6062			0.78%			3.84%
(in U.S. $)
U.S. $ in pounds			£0.620			£0.623			-0.77%			-3.70%
Euro in dollars			$1.32			$1.31			-0.94%			2.02%
(in U.S. $)
U.S. $ in euros			€ 0.756			€ 0.761			0.95%			-1.98%
U.S. $ in yen			81.70			81.60			-1.55%			5.96%
U.S. $ in Chinese			6.33			6.30			0.10%			0.01%
yuan
Canada dollar			$1.008			$1.005			0.55%			2.73%
(in U.S. $)
U.S. dollar			$0.993			$0.995			-0.55%			-2.66%
(in Canadian $)
Commodities
Gold (-GC)			$1,642.80			$1,641.40			-1.74%			4.85%
(per troy ounce)
Copper (-HG)			$3.698			$3.628			-3.32%			7.63%
(per pound)
Silver (-SI)			$31.6510			$31.7790			-2.56%			13.38%
(per troy ounce)
Wheat (-ZW)			$6.2300			$6.3000			-5.71%			-4.56%
(per bushel)
Corn (-ZC)			$6.0300			$6.120			-6.37%			-6.73%
(per bushel)
Cotton			$0.9101			0.9072			-3.10%			-0.73%
(per pound)
Coffee			$1.7895			1.7565			-3.27%			-22.08%
(per pound)
Crude oil (-CL)			$103.05			$102.27			0.03%			4.27%
(per barrel)