Weekend markets: Google lifts stocks in down week

Stocks on Wall Street ended higher on Friday as blowout earnings from Google and a big corporate takeover overshadowed continued credit rating worries and a depressed reading on consumer sentiment.

The preliminary Reuters/University of Michigan index of consumer sentiment moved to 63.8, much weaker than economists expected.

The impasse over US government debt continued, with Standard & Poor’s saying there was a 50% possibility of a credit rating drop, though Republicans said they planned to vote next week on a proposal to raise the debt ceiling by $US2.4 trillion.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 42.61 points, or 0.3%, to 12,479.73. Caterpillar led the industrials higher, rising 1.7% on the New York Stock Exchange.

For the week, the Dow fell 1.4%, the worst weekly decline since the week ended June 10 and the eighth decline in the past 11 weeks.

The S&P 500 index rose 0.6%, to 1316.14, leaving it down 2.1% for the week. The energy sector rose the most, up 2.3%, boosted by rising crude oil prices and merger-and-acquisition activity.

Petrohawk Energy, a pioneer shale-gas company, soared 62% after BHP Billiton made a takeover worth more than $US15 billion, including debt.

The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 27.13 points, or 1%, to 2789.80, fueled by Google's 36% jump in quarterly profit on record revenue. The technology-oriented index fell 2.5% over the week, ending a succession of three weekly rises.

Other markets: Europe down, Asia mixed
European stock markets finished lower. The pan-European Stoxx 600 index fell 0.3% to 266.91. For the week, the index dropped 2.5%.

The UK's FTSE 100 index slipped 0.06% to 5843.66, taking its weekly loss to 2.5% and its eighth loss in the past 11 weeks. France's CAC 40 index dropped 0.7% to 3726.59, sinking 4.8% for the week. Germany's DAX 30 index edged up 0.1% to 7220.12 but sank 2.5% for the week.

Asian stocks ended mixed. Chinese property developers tumbled, pulling Hong Kong shares lower and capping gains in Shanghai after Beijing broadened restrictions on home purchases to include some second- and third-tier cities.

Japan's Nikkei Stock Average rose 0.4% to 9974.47, China's Shanghai Composite gained 0.4% to 2820.17, Korea's Kospi added 0.7% to 2145.20 and Taiwan's Taiex rallied 1.1% to 8574.91.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index shed 0.4% to 4473.50 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index declined 0.3% to 21875.38. The Bombay Stock Exchange's Sensitive Index fell 0.3% to 18,561.92, ending the week 1.6% lower after three consecutive weeks of gains.

Commodities: Oil, gold up
Crude oil prices rose $US1.55, or 1.6%, to $US97.24 a barrel. Prices have risen 6.7% in the past three weeks.

Gold rose for a ninth straight session to a nominal record of $US1589.80, up 80USc, or less than 0.1%.