US stocks mixed

Wall Street ended an uninspiring earnings week with another lacklustre session today, as investors bought safer blue chips and once again shied away from tech stocks.

Investors were encouraged by a brokerage house upgrade of Microsoft and some better-than-expected results from companies including Sun Microsystems and International Paper.

But at the same time, ‘‘there is a lack of enthusiasm here, a lack of greed, a lack of confidence about the market’s future’’, said AC Moore, chief investment strategist for Dunvegan Associates.

Investors were cautious because few companies have been able to make optimistic forecasts. The market was also concerned about an afternoon warning from the FBI, which said it had received unsubstantiated information that terrorists were considering attacks against US banks.

The Dow Jones industrial average ended a lightly traded session up 51.83, or 0.5%, at 10,257.11.

The broader market was mixed. The Nasdaq composite index fell 5.68, or 0.3%, to 1,796.75, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index inched up 0.69, or 0.06%, to 1,125.16.

Microsoft, a Dow stock, climbed 83 cents to dlrs 57.20 after Merrill Lynch raised its rating to ‘‘buy’’ from ‘‘neutral’’, citing in part an attractive share price.

The upgrade and the advance came despite Microsoft’s weaker-than-expected fiscal third-quarter profits, released late on Thursday, and its warning of lower earnings for the fourth quarter and fiscal year 2003. There was some debate among Wall Street analysts over whether Microsoft’s results really were below what they had expected.

Another tech winner was Sun Microsystems, which rose 63 cents to dlrs 9.15 after posting a fiscal third-quarter loss that was smaller than expected and reaffirming that it expects to return to profitability in the current quarter.

Among tech losers Friday, Triquint Semiconductor fell 33 cents to dlrs 11.87 on a bigger-than-expected first-quarter loss.

Investors once again concentrated most of their buying in Wall Street’s safer, blue chip havens where the business recovery appears to be under way. International Paper, a Dow stock, rose 84 cents to dlrs 42.17 after beating analysts’ earnings expectations by 5 cents a share.

Dow industrial American Express gained dlrs 1.04 to dlrs 43.43, having surpassed earnings projections by 3 cents a share.

Banking stocks were mixed following the FBI warning. JP Morgan Chase rose 50 cents to dlrs 37.76, while Citigroup declined 52 cents to dlrs 46.53.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners 17 to 14 on the New York Stock Exchange. Volume was light.

The Russell 2000 index, the barometer of smaller company stocks, fell 1.16, or 0.2%, to 517.41.