Stocks Ease Out of Winning Week

Most shares in the energy complex were strengthening, including Exxon Mobil (XOM Quote), Chevron (CVX Quote) and Transocean (RIG Quote). Shares finished ahead by 1.5% or more.

Gold futures were up $19.90 to $899.90 an ounce. The U.S. dollar slid by 0.9% against the euro to $1.5591 while weakening by 0.6% against the yen to fetch 104.08.

Though oil and gold have both climbed for the week amid a slipping greenback, stocks have nonetheless booked sizable gains since Monday. For the week, the Dow has added 1.9%, the S&P has risen 2.7%, and the Nasdaq has jumped 3.4%.

On the corporate side, Kohl's (KSS Quote) slipped 2.4% after the department-store chain knocked down its 2008 profit guidance to between $2.95 and $3.15 a share. The company's first-quarter profit slumped 26.8%, though it did top analysts' pessimistic expectations.

Nordstrom (JWN Quote), however, gained ground on its own earnings beat, even as its bottom line shrank by 24%. The specialty retailer also whittled down its full-year outlook. Shares were adding 3.1%.

Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF Quote) said its first-quarter profit came in higher than last year and bested the consensus target. Still, shares closed up just 11 cents at $76.19.

Away from retail, Autodesk (ADSK Quote) came in ahead of projections as the design-software firm saw its first-quarter income rise 14% from the prior year. Even so, the stock erased early gains to lose 0.5%.

Compuware (CPWR Quote) posted a lower first-quarter profit of $61.2 million, or 23 cents a share. That topped the Thomson Reuters estimate by 2 cents a share. Shares started out lower before hiking up 4.5%.