Late Rally Lifts Dow, but Nasdaq Slips

Updated from 3:41 p.m. EDT

Blue chips dug themselves out of early losses to end higher Friday, though tech shares ended to the downside, as investors dealt with mixed earnings reports, resurging oil prices and a confirmation of poor consumer-sentiment numbers.

After having posted declines for much of the day, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 44 points to 12,893, and the S&P 500 rose 9 points to 1398. The Nasdaq Composite remained in the red, however, dragged lower by Microsoft's (MSFT Quote) disappointing near-term guidance. The index was in better shape at the fniish, but still lost 6 points to 2423.

"I think we're just seeing a normal Friday in a somewhat jittery market," said Steven Sheldon, CFA and principal with SMS Capital Management. "I think the market's just getting set up for next week's [Federal Reserve] meeting, and oil prices continue to be rather volatile. Every day we're getting head-faked up and down."

Crude-oil futures, after sustaining a big drop Thursday, ballooned in the new session on a raft of supply-disruption concerns.

News broke that a ship contracted by the U.S. military fired warning shots at two Iranian vessels, which spurred worries of a U.S.-Iran conflict that could halt shipments from the Gulf. Also, militants in Nigeria said they had assailed another pipeline shortly following a recent attack on two others, and Bloomberg reported that Britain's BP (BP Quote) will begin shutting down a major North Sea pipeline tomorrow ahead of a planned refinery strike in Scotland.

Crude jumped $2.46 to $118.52 a barrel, and gold futures also took back some of yesterday's losses, climbing $2.90 to $889.70 an ounce.

The dollar continued to climb against the euro, however, adding 0.6% at $1.5598. Against the yen, the greenback was up slightly at 104.51.

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