Led by losses in component stocks Boeing ( BA ) and Microsoft ( MSFT ) the Dow Jones Industrial Average underperformed the other benchmarks and closed the week lower by just 40 points. Mostly upbeat corporate earnings from John Deere ( DE ) and Hewlett Packard ( HPQ ) also contributed to the firmer tone before equities surrendered their minimal gains after the CPI data. The Labor Department reported that consumer prices increased by an as-expected 0.1% last month.
finance news