Markets End Mixed; Financials Fall, Commodity Stocks Rally

September 12, 2008 5:06 p.m. EST

New York, NY (AHN) - U.S. markets were able to rally off morning lows due to a better than expected Michigan consumer sentiment reading. However, worries in the financial sector prevented any big moves higher.

The University of Michigan Preliminary Consumer Confidence reading for September was 73.1, a marked improvement from the 63 in August and well above economists' expectations of 64. The news gave the market a boost shortly after the opening bell.

The Dow Jones Industrial average fell 11 points or 0.1 percent. The result was rather positive considering American International Group, one of the Dow's financial components, fell 30 percent on Thursday. With the move, Standard & Poor's put AIG ratings on negative watch after the close.

S&P 500 stocks faired a bit better with the index adding 2.6 points or 0.2 percent on Friday. The materials and energy sectors, beaten down all week, rallied on Friday 3.2 percent and 2.8 percent, respectively.

Financials were the worst performing sector, down 1 percent. With all of the questions surrounding Lehman, Washington Mutual and AIG; investors took to the sidelines to await some answers.

Tech squeezed out a gain as well. The Nasdaq Composite rose 3 points or 0.14 percent. The smaller tech names pushed the composite higher Friday as big cap tech stocks were generally lower. The Nasdaq 100 fell 0.37 percent on the session.

Crude oil dipped below the $100 barrel mark for the first time since April 2. The commodity did rally off lows, settling at $101.18 a barrel, up 31 cents.

In other economic news, the Producer Price Index (PPI) showed a 0.9 percent decline in August. The drop was better than economists predicted.