Markets Show No Signs of Surrender as Stocks Cap Four-Week Advance

Major U.S. stock averages close on a lackluster performance Friday after Microsoft's and Google's earnings sorely disappoint.
By Andrea Tse ,

NEW YORK (

TheStreet

) -- The

S&P 500

gained on Friday to cap a fourth-consecutive weekly advance as investors discounted disappointing second-quarter earnings from

Microsoft

(MSFT) - Get Report

and

Google

(GOOG) - Get Report

.

The S&P added 0.2% to 1,692.09 to extend its 2013 advance to 19%. The index's relative strength index stood at 68, demonstrating that there may be further upside to this record-setting market which hit intraday and closing record highs this week. The index gained 0.71% for the week.

"This is such a deceptive environment... you'd think it's the nineties again," said Michael Gayed, chief investment strategist at Pension Partners. "I am certain that the feeling people are having about the stock market are the same they had in 1987."The

Dow Jones Industrial Average

was little changed on Friday at 15,543.74 as the blue-chip index gained 0.51% for the week, while the technology-heavy

Nasdaq

fell 0.7% to 3,587.61. The index posted a loss of 0.35% for the five-day trading period.

Microsoft plummeted 11.4% to $31.40 after the software giant's fiscal fourth-quarter results

missed Wall Street's top- and bottom-line estimates.

Microsoft reported quarterly revenue of $19.9 billion, up from $18.06 billion in the year-earlier quarter, but well below the $20.73 billion expected by analysts.

Google slumped 1.6% to $896.60 after the Internet search giant posted second-quarter

earnings that missed analysts' expectations.

Google earned $9.56 a share on $11.1 billion in revenue, excluding traffic acquisition costs.

Better-than-expected earnings from

General Electric (GE) - Get Report,

Schlumberger

(SLB) - Get Report

and

Honeywell

(HON) - Get Report

helped to offset some of the drag from Google and Microsoft as well as Intuitive Surgical and

Advanced Micro Devices

(AMD) - Get Report

. GE jumped 4.6%, Schlumberger advanced 5.4% and Honeywell edged higher by 0.72%.

Chipotle Mexican Grill

(CMG) - Get Report

was the biggest percentage gainer on the

S&P

as it popped 8.6% to $408.97 after the fast-casual burrito chain

beat on both

top and bottom line estimates for the second quarter. The company reaffirmed that it plans 165 to 180 new restaurant openings this year as well as low to mid-single digit comparable restaurant sales for the year.

Whirlpool

(WHR) - Get Report

was right behind Chipotle, tacking on 8% to $128.91 after the appliance company booked second-quarter revenue above expectations and hiked its full-year outlook as profit margins and sales improved. Shares rose, despite earnings coming in short by five cents at $2.37 a share.

Investor sentiment was bolstered earlier in the day when China's central bank announced the beginning of sweeping reforms on interest rates as the government seeks to sustain the country's economic growth. The People's Bank of China said it was removing the floor on its lending rates at commercial banks, allowing the bank the flexibility to reduce rates as much as necessary to encourage borrowing.

AMD was the biggest laggard on the

S&P

, dropping by 13.2% to $4.03 after the chipmaker predicted that gross margins would decline as it works to gain market share in game consoles.

The benchmark 10-year Treasury was rising 13/32 Friday, diluting the yield to 2.484%.

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Written by Andrea Tse and Joe Deaux in New York

>To contact the writer of this article, click here:

Andrea Tse

.>.

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