US stocks waver, still on track for best week this year

NEW YORK (AP) - Stocks are little changed late-afternoon trading Friday, but the market is still on track to close out its best week this year. Airlines and industrial stocks rose.

Markets continue to be driven by confidence that the Federal Reserve will keep interest rates low for several more months.

The Dow Jones industrial average was up 16 points, or 0.1 percent, at 17,066 as of 2:55 p.m. Eastern. The Standard & Poor's 500 index slipped a point to 2,013 and the Nasdaq composite rose 15 points, or 0.3 percent, to 4,825.

The S&P 500 is up 3.2 percent this week, its biggest gain since December. It has risen seven days out of the past nine.

Airline stocks were among the biggest gainers in the S&P 500 after the companies said they flew nearly full flights last month, an important revenue driver for the industry. United Continental flew flights on average 82.9 percent full; while American Airlines reported its flights were 82.7 percent full.

United Continental rose 7 percent, American rose 7 percent, JetBlue Airways and Southwest Airlines were up 4 percent each.

Investors are now positioning themselves for corporate earnings season, which picks up steam next week with most of the nation's largest banks reporting their results, as well as big companies like Intel, Netflix, UnitedHealth and General Electric. Earnings are expected to be down roughly 5.5 percent from a year ago, according to FactSet, mostly because of the drop in commodity prices.

"Earnings are going to dominate the next few weeks. Once we get guidance from Corporate America, investors will be reasonably more confidence about getting back into the market," said Bob Doll, chief equity strategist at Nuveen Asset Management.

One industrial company not doing well was Alcoa, the aluminum company, which fell 68 cents, or 6 percent, to $10.33. The company reported a steep drop in profits for its third quarter, citing lower aluminum prices and a strong U.S. dollar.

Global markets also had a strong week, with Germany's DAX up 5.7 percent, France's CAC-40 up 5.4 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE up 4.7 percent this week. In Asia, markets in Japan, China and Hong Kong are up roughly 4 percent each.

Shares of Gap Inc. fell $1.74, or 6 percent, to $27.22 after the clothing retailer's results missed analysts' expectations. Sales were particularly disappointing at Banana Republic, the company's higher-end chain.

The price of oil and energy stocks rose as Russia's military actions in Syria raised the risk of a wider conflict in the region. Benchmark U.S. oil gained 23 cents to $49.66 on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

U.S. government bond prices rose slightly. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 2.09 percent. The euro rose to $1.1370 while the dollar rose to 120.32 yen.