MarketView for January 27

Summary

The major equity indexes ended the day a bit mixed but with no real action either up or down on Friday, as investors look advantage of earlier in the day declines pick up shares in what has been a strong first month of 2012. However, the emergence of late-day buyers was viewed positively as major averages have methodically climbed through January. This week's news that the Federal Reserve intends to keep interest rates low through late 2014 added a jolt of demand that could extend the rally.

Nonetheless, the Dow Jones industrial average posted its first weekly loss this year, hurt in part by Chevron, which announced earnings that were below Street's expectations. Chevron, the No. 2 domestic oil company, fell 2.5 percent to $103.96 and was the largest drag on the Dow.

In addition, Procter & Gamble cut its full-year profit forecast because of the strong dollar. Procter & Gamble ended the day down 0.8 percent to close at $64.30.

The Commerce Department reported on Friday morning that the nation’s gross domestic product grew at its fastest pace in 1-1/2 years in the last quarter of 2011. Yet, the 2.8 percent rise fell short of expectations. Inventory re-building accounted for much of the growth, and weak spending by businesses in the GDP report pointed to a slower pace of recovery early this year, denting recent optimism about the economy.

In company news, Facebook plans to file documents as early as Wednesday for a highly anticipated initial public offering that will value the world's largest social network at between $75 billion and $100 billion, according to the Wall Street Journal, which cited unidentified sources.

For the week, the Dow fell 0.5 percent, the S&P was up 0.1 percent and the Nasdaq rose 1.1 percent.

Friday's losses were limited as Federal Reserve statements this week and economic data kept the Street on its toes looking to the possibility of another round of monetary stimulus known as quantitative easing, or QE3.

Ford’s shares fell 4.2 percent to $12.21 after the carmaker reported a lower-than-expected fourth-quarter profit on higher commodity costs and losses in Europe and Asia.

Network equipment makers Juniper Networks and Riverbed Technologies gave first-quarter outlooks after the close Thursday that were below expectations. Juniper fell 3 percent to $21.69 while Riverbed slid 18.3 percent to $24.45 in trading on Friday.

According to Thomson Reuters data, 59 percent of 184 S&P 500 companies reporting earnings through Friday have topped analysts' estimates, below the beat rate of about 70 percent seen at this stage of earnings season in recent quarters.

Utilities were the worst performing among S&P sectors after results from American Electric Power and Dominion Resources. American Electric was down 3.2 percent to $39.95, while Dominion fell 2.5 percent to $49.56.

Eastman Chemical offered to buy specialty chemical maker for about $3.38 billion in cash and stock to extend its reach in emerging markets, particularly the Asia-Pacific region. Solutia shares rose 41.1 percent to $27.52 and Eastman shares gained 7 percent to $50.41.

Negotiations between Greece and its private creditors on a debt swap deal made progress on Friday and will continue over the weekend, a senior Greek government official said. Renewed concern about the crisis has troubled markets this week.

About 6.6 billion shares changed hands on the three major exchanges on Friday.