Stocks End Week Little Changed; Consumer Sentiment Trumps CPI Data, Cooling Enthusiasm

4:18 PM, Mar 16, 2012 -- Stocks closed just higher on Friday, giving back early gains to trade a few points either side of even after new data found rising energy prices may be starting to weigh on consumer attitudes.

By the end of the day, only three of the 10 industry categories in the S&P 500 finished higher, led by energy stocks and followed by financial and material stocks, reflecting gains for crude oil today.

The major U.S. market gauges all reversed course this morning after the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan index on consumer sentiment reported a 74.3 preliminary reading for March, down from 75.3 reading last month and falling short of the 76.0 consensus call experts in a Thomson Reuters survey. The Dow Jones Industrial Average snapped a seven-day winning streak, closing down 20 points. The S&P rose just 0.1% to finish the week with a 2.5% advance.

The unexpectedly dour assessment of consumer moods removed some of the glow from new consumer price data, which found that prices excluding often-volatile energy and food rose only 0.1% in February, below the 0.2% rise that economists in a Bloomberg News survey, on average were expecting. According to the Labor department, the overall Consumer Price Index was up 0.4% last month, matching forecasts. Year-over-year, prices are now up 2.9%; excluding food and energy, the increase is 2.2%.

The Federal Reserve also today said today that industrial production was unchanged during February following upwardly revised 0.4% growth in January. Previously, industrial production was reported to have been unchanged in January. The February results reflect manufacturing output moving up 0.3%, offset by a 1.2% drop in mining production. The index for motor vehicles and parts production also fell 1.1% last month after jumping 8.6% in January. Capacity utilization edged down 0.1% to 78.7% in February. Experts in a Reuters poll are expecting a 0.4% jump in production and 0.3-point gain in utilization.

In company news, Threshold Pharmaceuticals (THLD) is up just about 4% after earlier establishing a new 52-week high after European regulators has granted Orphan Drug Designation for the company's TH-302 drug candidate, a hypoxia-targeted drug for the treatment of soft tissue sarcoma.

Also today, Cogo Group Inc. (COGO) shares are ahead more than 67%, earlier surging to an 89% gain, after the software company's CEO offered to acquire 30 percent of the company's assets for as much as $82 million. Primo Water Corp. (PRMW) shares, meanwhile, fell to their lowest intraday price since the company's November 2010 IPO, sliding over 29% to $2.07 after warning it now expects to report a Q1 net loss as large as $0.09 a share. Analysts following the bottled water seller had been forecasting a $0.02 a share profit.

In company news, Dole Food Co. (DOLE) shares are up nearly 11% in late trading after the fruit company reported an adjusted Q4 net loss of $0.02 a share, easily beating the $0.12 loss that analysts were expecting. The company credited cost reduction programs in place over the past two years for helping improve earnings despite increasing input costs and adverse foreign-currency conversions.

Also, Deer Consumer Products Inc. (DEER) slumped over 10% after the maker of home electronics postponed filing its 2011 financial report. In a filing, DEER said it needed more time to assess its disclosure controls and its internal control over financial reporting.

Commodities are mixed. Gold for April delivery pared most of its losses from earlier this morning but settled lower at $1,655.50 an ounce, down $3.80. Crude oil settled today at $107.06, up $1.95. Natural gas also rallied, rising 4.7 cents to $2.326 per 1 million British Thermal Units.

Here's where the markets stood end-of-day:

Dow Jones Industrial Average down 20.14 (-0.15%) to 13,232.62.

S&P 500 up 1.57 (+0.11%) to 1,404.17.

NASDAQ Composite Index down 1.11 (-0.04%) to 3,055.26.

GLOBAL SENTIMENT

Hange Seng Index down 0.17%.

China Shanghai Composite Index up 1.30%.

FTSE 100 up 0.42%.

UPSIDE MOVERS

(+) CYTX, FDA grants 510(k) clearance for company's stem-cell company's PureGraft 850 system.

(+) DOLE, Reports per-share, adjusted Q4 net loss of $0.02; Street was expecting $0.12 loss.

DOWNSIDE MOVERS

(-) DSCO, Sold 16 million shares at $2.80 each, a 20% discount to Thursday's closing price.

(-) OGXI, Drug-maker announces secondary offering of 4.165 million shares priced at $12 each.