US stocks closed out a mixed week on Friday as investors digested strong economic news while anticipating a cooling of conditions later this year.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average struck fresh six-year highs over the week, and ended with a gain of 0.2 percent at 11,370.18.
The broader Standard and Poor's 500 index lost a fraction, or 0.03 percent to 1,310.85 and the tech-dominated NASDAQ -- hurt by a disappointing profit report from Microsoft -- slumped 0.88 percent to 2,322.38.
The market held generally firm in recent weeks, despite record-high oil prices, rising interest rates and concerns about a slowdown in economic and profit growth. Investors have been heartened by hints that the US Federal Reserve will soon end its cycle of interest-rate hikes.
John Praveen, chief investment strategist at Prudential Equity Group, said the recent stock market rally may be running out of steam.
"We expected stocks to post around 10 percent gains during 2006. More than half those gains have already accrued in the first quarter," he said.
"We remain positive on the outlook for stocks in 2006. However, we are cautious over the next few months with stocks running into the headwinds of interest rate uncertainty, rising bond yields and surging oil prices," Praveen said.
David Briggs, head of global equity trading at Federated Investors, said he sees the market pulling back as well.
"Stocks have had a nice run over the past five months. First-quarter earning reports have looked pretty good. The Fed could be getting ready to end this cycle of interest-rate hikes," he said.
Briggs said a correction is "the more likely near-term scenario" for Wall Street.
In the coming week, the market will get data on personal income and spending, productivity, auto sales, and the earnings season winds down with results from Time Warner, Procter and Gamble, Eastman Kodak and others.
Bonds lost ground. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury bond rose to 5.069 percent from 5.012 percent a week earlier while that on the 30-year bond increased to 5.169 percent from 5.099 percent. Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions.
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