Cautious Optimism

U.S. stocks ended on a high note Friday, enjoying a week of gains triggered by a 14 percent drop in the price of crude oil. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 0.7 percent for the week, closing at 10,592.21. The tech-heavy Nasdaq, boosted by Intel’s revised sales forecast, closed 2.2 percent higher at 2,147.96. Still, concerns about a new record low for the dollar against the euro—coupled with weak November employment figures, released on Friday— cast a shadow over trading, and stocks, which had rallied to earlier highs, gave back some of those gains by the end of the day.