Boosted by another slide in oil prices, the blue chips finished the day in the green on Friday, offsetting minor losses from the Nasdaq Composite.

Today's Market

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 43.97 points, or 0.38% to 11659.90, the Standard & Poor’s 500 index gained 5.27 points, or 0.41%, to 1298.20 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 1.15 points, or 0.05%, to 2452.52. The FOX 50 added 4.80 points, or 0.52%, to 929.36.

For much of the day the major indexes fluctuated between slight gains and losses, mirroring the up and down price of crude oil. By the time the dust settled, the Nasdaq Composite and S&P 500 managed to end the week with small gains while the blue chips lost some ground over the past five days. 

While the market benefited from the sliding price of oil, which closed below $114 a barrel on Friday, stocks were under some pressure from a weak consumer sentiment report and a trio of gloomy earnings forecasts from retailers like J.C. Penney (JCP). 

Citigroup (C) and Proctor & Gamble (PG) posted the biggest gains on the Dow on Friday, rising more than 2% a piece. Those gains were limited by declines from energy titan Chevron (CVX) and automaker General Motors (GM).

As has been the case for much of the summer, the stock market has been heavily influenced by the price of crude oil, which briefly tumbled below $112 a barrel Friday. Oil closed down $1.24 on the day at $113.77 a barrel. 

Crude has plunged over the past six weeks as the U.S. dollar has rallied back against rival currencies, the possibility of a global economic slowdown has increased significantly and energy demand has weakened. Several countries around the world, including Japan and the Eurozone, issued weak gross national product reports this week, fanning recession fears outside the U.S. 

The U.S. dollar, which often is an impetus behind the move in commodities, continued to rally on Friday. Goldman Sachs changed its bearish tone on the greenback, saying the upcoming global economic slowdown would help repair the currency's tattered value. 

The market reacted positively to the release of the Empire State Manufacturing Index, which showed August manufacturing activity unexpectedly rose to 2.77 from -4.9 the month before. The report was just the second positive reading over the past seven months as manufacturing activity has weakened considerably. Economists had been expecting a decline. 

However, that enthusiasm was cooled by the University of Michigan/Reuters consumer sentiment index, which improved slightly in its latest August reading but not by as much as experts had expected. The index rose to 61.7 for August, compared to 61.2 the month before. Sentiment has begun to stabilize in tandem with diving oil prices. 

On the earnings front, Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF), JCPenney (JCP) and Nordstrom (JWN) all topped estimates with their quarterly profits but also issued conservative guidance for the near future. On the other hand, retail chain Kohl's (KSS) beat the Street while issuing bullish guidance, sending its shares higher. 

Corporate Movers

Vishay Intertechnology (VSH) offered to buy power management company International Rectifier (IRF) for $21.22 per share in a deal worth about $1.6 billion. The deal represents a premium of 13% on International Rectifier's closing price on Thursday and sent the company's stock jumping 20%. 

Wachovia (WB) joined a half-dozen other banks by signing off on a settlement to buy back $8.5 billion of auction-rate securities to end New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo’s probe into the matter. Cuomo said Wachovia will pay $50 million in fines as a part of the deal.

Merrill Lynch (MER) faces an imminent law suit from Cuomo as the financial giant has not yet reacted an agreement with his office over the auction-rate securities issue. Cuomo sent a letter to Merrill over the matter, similar to one he sent before Citigroup (C) eventually agreed to buy back billions of dollars of the securities and pay fines.  

General Motors (GM) said it will unveil the details of a multimillion-dollar investment in its Lordstown, Ohio manufacturing complex next week. The news comes a day after GM was the best-performing stock on the Dow, jumping as much as 14% on its new timetable and photos of its all-electric Chevy Volt. 

JCPenney (JCP) saw its stock jump after the company beat the Street with second-quarter earnings of 52 cents a share on total sales of $4.28 billion. However, the retailer warned its third-quarter profit may miss analyst expectations and said it sees a total sales decline of low-single digits during the period.   

Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF) posted better-than-expected second-quarter earnings but issued weak full-year guidance amid sliding sales at its Hollister and A&F kids chains. The retailer earned 87 cents per share, beating estimates by a penny. Looking ahead, A&F sees earnings of $4.95 to $5.00 per share in 2008, compared to $5.34 per share that analysts had been forecasting. 

Nordstrom (JWN) also reported stronger-than-expected earnings for the second-quarter but sees trouble ahead. The Seattle-based department chain earned 65 cents per share, topping estimates by a penny. Analysts had been expecting stronger revenue than the reported $2.29 billion. Nordstrom lowered its full-year guidance below analyst expectations. 

Netflix (NFLX) customers going through DVD-withdrawal can breathe a sigh of relief as the online movie rental service said unspecified shipping problems have been fixed as of Friday. As a result of the outage, Netflix will give a 15% discount to all impacted customers in their next bill. The company will also give individuals using the service on a free trial basis an extra week. It was just the second time in Netflix's 11-year history that it wasn't able to ship movies. The other incident occurred in March and was based on an unrelated problem.

NRG Energy (NRG) benefited from news that billionaire investor Warren Buffett has bought shares of the power wholesaler. Buffett's holding company, Berkshire Hathaway, revealed a stake of 3.2 million shares in NRG as of the end of June. On the other hand, the "Oracle of Omaha" is now concealing the status of his 17.5 million-share investment in ConocoPhilips (COP). Buffett also reduced his stake in Anheuser-Busch (BUD). 

World Markets

The Dow Jones Euro Stoxx 50 Index, an index that tracks the 50 largest companies in Europe, fell 0.23 points to 3356.61. London's benchmark FTSE 100 Index fell 38.70 points to 5458.70. 

On the European continent, the CAC 40 Index in Paris rose 11.53 points to 4432.44 while Germany's DAX fell 30.32points to 6411.89. 

In Asia, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 benchmark index gained 62.61 points to 13019.41. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 232.13 points to 21160.58.