Wall Street ends mixed

Wall Street closed a volatile week with a mixed performance today after a pair of economic reports dashed hopes for an early interest rate cut. The major indexes were down for the week.

Stocks found some late-day strength as investors sought bargains after a two-day pullback that erased most of the gains made so far this year.

Strong results from Microsoft helped lift technology stocks, while heavy machinery maker Caterpillar lent some support to the Dow Jones industrials. However, those gains were offset by economic reports that raised concerns about interest rates.

The Commerce Department said new home sales rose 4.8% in December, well above economists’ projections and a sign that the slumping housing market might have bottomed out.

The department also said orders to US factories for big-ticket manufactured goods rose in December by the largest amount in three months, led by demand for commercial aircraft.

Investors had been holding on to hopes that central bankers might cut rates in the first half of the year.

However, a steady stream of positive economic data like today’s is making that unlikely and instead raising the possibility the Federal Reserve might resume its campaign of rate hikes that ended in August. The Fed’s Open Market Committee meets next week.

“The biggest driver is concern the Fed might see more reasons to raise rates than to lower,” said Arthur Hogan, chief market analyst at Jefferies & Co.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 15.54, or 0.12%, to 12,487.02.

Broader stock indicators were mixed. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index was down 1.72, or 0.12%, at 1,422.18, and the Nasdaq composite index rose 1.25, or 0.05%, to 2,435.49.