Wall Street ekes out gains, Dow logs 5-week wining streak

U.S. stocks wiped out earlier losses and finished in green territory on Friday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average rising for the fifth consecutive week, as investors weighed positive consumer sentiment against a batch of mixed corporate earnings. The Dow inched up 3.22 points, or 0.02 percent, to 15,558.83 points. The S&P 500 advanced 1.40 points, or 0.08 percent, to 1, 691.65 points. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 7.97 points, or 0. 22 percent, to 3,613.16 points. For the week, the Dow gained 0.1 percent and the S&P 500 moved down 0.03 percent while the Nasdaq climbed 0.7 percent. The U.S. consumer sentiment index for July rose to 85.1, the highest level in six years, according to the final reading of a joint report released by Thomson Reuters and University of Michigan on Friday. Analysts polled by Bloomberg expected the index to rise to 84.0. But Wall Street still dipped into negative territory in early trading session, shrugging off the positive economic data, as a bunch of mixed earnings reports weighed on the market. Zynga shares plunged 14.00 percent to 3.01 dollars per share, one day after the social game services provider posted a net loss of 15.8 million U.S. dollars in the second quarter of 2013, smaller than the prior year's loss of 22.8 million dollars. The company also posted a current quarter outlook far below market expectations. Expedia shares plummeted 27.38 percent to 47.20 dollars a share, after the Internet-based travel website company said late Thursday its second-quarter earnings fell 32 percent on higher costs and expenses. Amazon.com swung to a loss of 7 million dollars, or 2 cents a share, in the second quarter, falling from a profit of 7 million dollars a year ago and defying analysts'expectations of earning 5 cents a share. But its quarterly sales grew 22 percent to 15.70 billion dollars. Amazon shares rose 2.84 percent to 312.01 dollars a share. On the positive side, Starbucks posted net earnings of 417.8 million dollars in the third quarter of 2013 fiscal year, up 25.4 percent from the prior year, and quarterly revenues climbed 13 percent to 3.74 billion dollars. Shares of the coffee chain jumped 7.61 percent to 73.36 dollars a share. According to Thomson Reuters data, 47 percent of the S&P 500 companies have reported second-quarter earnings so far, among which some 68 percent have beaten profit estimates, while some 56 percent have topped revenue forecast. The market wobbled in the past couple of days, as major stock indices were looking for direction and further catalyst amid a lackluster second-quarter earnings season. Investors were also cautious of placing big bets ahead of next week's closely-watched Federal Reserve monetary policy meeting and the U.S. non-farm payroll reports for July as well as the country's gross domestic product data for the second quarter of this year. On other markets, the U.S. dollar retreated against major currencies for a second day on Friday on expectations that the Federal Reserve will keep its monetary policy loose. The dollar once fell to a four-week low against the yen and five-week low against the euro. However, analysts believe dollar's losses will be limited while investors awaited for a series of economic data due to be released next week. The greenback may also stay firm if the Fed gives signals that it may taper the bond-purchasing program as early as September. In late New York trading, the euro rose to 1.3257 dollars from 1.3243 dollars of the previous session. The dollar bought 98.19 Japanese yen, lower than 99.57 yen of the previous session. Oil prices dropped Friday as weak Chinese manufacturing data sparked concerns over the slowdown in the world's second largest oil-consuming country. Light, sweet crude for September delivery lost 79 cents, to settle at 104.7 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent for September delivery went down 48 cents, to close at 107.17 dollars a barrel. Gold futures ended lower Friday on profit-taking, but still scored their third weekly gain. The most active gold contract for August delivery fell 7.3 dollars to settle at 1,321.5 dollars per ounce.