Small dip in strong week for stocks

Stocks ended a strong week on a flat note as lower oil prices and utility stocks offset encouraging economic news.

Still, the market ended Friday with a second straight weekly gain.

The Dow Jones industrial average closed down 57.32 points, or 0.3 percent, to 16,639.97. The Standard & Poor's 500 index lost 3.65 points, or 0.2 percent, to 1,948.05 and the Nasdaq composite added 8.27 points, or 0.2 percent, to 4,590.47.

All three indexes finished the week up by 1.5 percent or more. Oil, despite Friday's decline, was up 3.6 percent for the week.

On Friday the market was buoyed early by a strong rally in overseas stocks triggered by word from China that it would not devalue its currency to make its imports more competitive.

Also, the Commerce Department said U.S. gross domestic product, the broadest measure of economic health, grew at an annual rate of 1 percent in the fourth quarter, an improvement from the first estimate of 0.7 percent. Economists were expecting a reading of 0.4 percent growth.

But the stronger economic news kicked interest rates up sharply. This sentiment and the rising rates hit relatively safe investments such as government bonds and stocks that are attractive for their dividends, like utilities, hard.

The Dow Jones utility index, a basket of 15 utility companies, fell nearly 3 percent. Utility stocks tend to do better at times of low interest rates or economic uncertainty because their business is relatively stable and they pay a high dividend.

Gold closed down $18.40 to $1,220.40 an ounce. Oil closed down 29 cents, or 1 percent, to $32.78.