NEW YORK (AP) – Stocks closed mixed but mostly higher Friday, with Caterpillar Inc.’s lackluster results dragging down the Dow Jones industrials while strong earnings from Google Inc. led a broader rally. The major indexes were mixed for the week.

Friday’s skittish session closed out a turbulent week for Wall Street as troubling economic data renewed fears about inflation, overshadowing mostly positive third-quarter profit reports from the nation’s biggest companies. Investors scouring for signs of the market’s direction sent the Dow climbing more than 1 percent Wednesday, but took back the gains a day later.

Although corporate earnings have so far been favorable, the market is still battling three major headwinds – rising interest rates, inflation and high energy prices, said Michael Sheldon, chief investment strategist at Spencer Clarke LLC.

“Right now, I think the market needs a catalyst in order to get out of this difficult environment,” Sheldon said. “Hopefully if oil prices continue to decline and move back into the mid $50s, that could turn sentiment more positive on Wall Street.”

At the close of trading, the Dow fell 65.88, or 0.64 percent, to 10,215.22.

Meanwhile, the broader stock indicators advanced. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index added 1.79, or 0.15 percent, to 1,179.59, and the Nasdaq composite index jumped 14.10, or 0.68 percent, to 2,082.21.

For the week, the Dow fell 0.7 percent and the S&P 500 lost 0.59 percent; the Nasdaq, however, rose 0.84 percent. Trading could be volatile again next week as another wave of companies release their quarterly results.

Bonds gained ground, with the yield on the 10-year Treasury note sliding to 4.39 percent from 4.48 percent Thursday. The dollar was mixed against most major currencies, while gold prices edged lower.

Crude oil lingered below $60 a barrel most of the day following recent government reports indicating U.S. petroleum inventories have been expanding. However, a barrel of light crude added 61 cents to settle at $60.63 on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

But with oil falling and recent data showing higher prices have so far been limited to the energy industry, Wall Street may question whether the Federal Reserve is raising interest rates too high. Comments from three Fed officials this week signaled that the central bank remains steadfast on keeping its rate-tightening campaign.

“They have been repeatedly saying they’re going to continue their mission of trying to restrain inflation,” said Paul McManus, senior vice president at Independence Investments LLC. “They want to make sure oil inflation does not spread into core inflation.”

McManus said he believes the market could see another rebound if oil prices continue sliding and inflation worries moderate. For now, investors remain mostly reactionary instead of speculative, he added.

Late Thursday, Web search company Google said its profit grew more than sevenfold to $381.2 million as revenue nearly doubled from new services that drove traffic during the typically slow summer season. Google surged $36.70 to $339.90.

The tech sector saw another bright spot in flash-memory maker SanDisk Corp., whose quarterly profit almost doubled – easily beating Wall Street targets – on revenue growth of 45 percent. SanDisk gained $10.07 to $56.45.

Dow component Caterpillar posted a 34 percent rise in quarterly profit, but the construction equipment maker slashed its full-year outlook because of potential charges and a higher tax rate. Caterpillar dropped $5.11 to $48.92.

AT&T Corp. reversed a massive year-ago deficit to post a $520 million profit last quarter, although revenue in its core business services unit declined 10 percent. The results, which beat Wall Street targets, may be AT&T’s last before it is acquired by SBC Communications Inc. AT&T gained 43 cents to $19.01, and SBC rose 46 cents to $23.

Maytag Corp., the nation’s third-biggest appliance manufacturer, reported a wider-than-expected quarterly loss as excess capacity and soaring oil and material costs weighed on its bottom line. Nonetheless, Maytag rose 28 cents to $17.47.

Elsewhere, Research In Motion Ltd. tumbled $2.32 to $62.34, hurt by an appellate court’s denial of its request to suspend a patent-infringement case with NTP Inc. that threatens to halt U.S. sales of its popular BlackBerry handheld. RIM said it will ask the Supreme Court to review its case.

Advancing issues outpaced decliners by nearly 2 to 1 on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume of 1.46 billion shares led the 1.43 billion shares traded at the same point Thursday. Volume was expected to be higher from expiration of options and futures contracts.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies climbed 5.19, or 0.83 percent, to 632.73.

Overseas, Japan’s Nikkei stock average gained 0.07 percent. Britain’s FTSE 100 slid 0.43 percent, Germany’s DAX index dropped 0.53 percent, and France’s CAC-40 was lower by 0.55 percent.

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