NEW YORK - US stocks struggled to gain traction Friday as concerns about high oil prices overshadowed the positive sentiment from overseas market gains and broker upgrades for Intel and Apple Computer.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average drifted down 8.87 points (0.08 percent) to 10,617.48 at 1650 GMT after failing to hold early gains.
The Nasdaq composite shed 6.10 points (0.30 percent) to 2,010.32 while the broad-market Standard and Poor's 500 index dipped 2.52 points (0.21 percent) to 1,187.69.
The tone was positive at the open as overseas markets moved higher after steep losses earlier in the week.
But Wall Street remained fixated on crude oil prices, which hit an all-time intraday record of 57.60 dollars a barrel in New York on Thursday. In late morning trade, the futures price was up 20 cents at 56.60 dollars.
Another negative factor was the decline in the University of Michigan consumer sentiment index to 92.9 from 94.1, which could suggest a slowdown in future consumer spending.
Analysts said the market was struggling to hold key support levels to maintain investor sentiment. Bob Dickey at RBC Dain Rauscher said it was a good sign the Dow was holding above the psychologically important level of 10,600.
"The markets held their support levels for a second day, despite the threat of higher oil prices and the negative sentiment that has been generated as a result of that and other concerns that investors have today," he said.
"A few more days of holding, followed by a lifting up from here would reinforce the support, and make it more likely that another rally period could be developing, in our opinion."
Among active shares, Oracle fell 22 cents to 12.94 after boosting its offer for fellow business software maker Retek, down 20 cents at 11.44. The move upped the ante in the bidding war with German-based SAP.
Continental Airlines dipped 14 cents to 10.62 after warning it will lose money in the first quarter and for the full year 2005.
Microsoft added 12 cents to 24.66 after the company promised to take action to comply with an EU ruling to take steps over the abuse of its dominant position in the server market.
Apple added 65 cents to 42.90 and Intel advanced seven cents to 23.48 after the two tech firms were upgraded by brokers at Morgan Stanley and Deutsche Bank, respectively.
PalmOne tumbled 2.07 to 21.98 after delivering a weaker-than-expected fourth-quarter outlook.
Nike failed to get a lift from better-than-expected earnings, dropping 56 cents to 86.27.
Bonds gave back some of the gains of the prior session. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury bond rose to 4.494 percent from 4.470 percent Thursday and that on the 30-year bond to 4.791 percent from 4.760 percent.
03/18/2005 17:17 GMT