Stocks rise, dollar mixed after recent US data

Global equity markets mostly rose and the dollar traded mixed on Friday as recent data that has underpinned hopes for sustained US economic growth offset new data showing home resales fell to an 18-month low last month.

Cold weather and a lack of housing stock sidelined potential home buyers in January, the National Association of Realtors said on Friday, in the latest report indicating severe winter weather has dragged on economic growth.

Home sales dropped 5.1% to an annual rate of 4.62 million units, the lowest level since July 2012, the trade group said. Economists polled by Reuters had expected sales to fall to a 4.68 million pace last month.

A measure of global equity activity, MSCI's all-country world index, rose 0.29% as major equity indexes in Europe and Latin America rose.

But Wall Street retreated slightly in late trade on options-related expirations. The S&P 500 also faced resistance as it flirts with its record high, and fears of an economic soft patch kept stocks in check.

"Any disappointing data has been shrugged off and attributed to weather," said Michael James, managing director of equity trading at Wedbush Securities in Los Angeles.

"The late-day selling was somewhat induced by the futures and options expirations on the close. It's hard to put too much credence in the market's action in the last couple hours because there's so much positioning that has to do with where things close," James said.

Corporate results helped buoy sentiment.

Priceline.com Inc jumped 2.5% to $1,315.65, and was one of the S&P 500's biggest gainers. The online travel booking company reported results that beat expectations after Wednesday's market close.

Hewlett Packard Co's results also topped expectations, and the computer maker raised its 2014 profit view, but shares dipped 1.3% to $29.79.

Of the 441 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported earnings so far for last year's fourth quarter, 65.3% have beaten analyst expectations, according to Thomson Reuters. Since 1994, 63% of companies have beaten estimates.

"I would say that the market is back to a presumption that everything is OK," said Brad McMillan, chief investment officer at Commonwealth Financial.

"The Fed's minutes highlight that they think the US economy is going well, maybe better than well, earnings have turned out better than expected, and Europe continues to inch along. What's not to like?" he said.

Minutes released on Wednesday from the Federal Reserve's most recent meeting showed that policymakers generally "anticipated that the economy would expand at a moderate pace in coming quarters."

The Dow Jones industrial average closed down 29.93 points, or 0.19%, to 16,103.3. The S&P 500 lost 3.53 points, or 0.19%, to 1,836.25 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 4.135 points, or 0.1%, to 4,263.41.

In Europe, the FTSEurofirst 300 index of top regional shares closed up 0.32% to 1,343.12 points, led by a 0.59% rise in France's CAC 40 index to a 5-1/2-year high.

A recent trend of companies in France delivering decent profits and better outlooks, in contrast to last year when a weak economy hit earnings and caused the CAC to underperform, has lifted the French benchmark.

French-listed oil services group Technip and construction firm Saint-Gobain rose 2.50% and 3.77%, respectively, as banks lifted their target prices for the stocks after they reported results earlier in the week.

"Many are calling the French economy the sick man of Europe, but people are buying the future. France has so much potential to improve," Markus Huber, senior sales trader at Peregrine & Black, said.

The dollar retreated against a basket of currencies, but managed to post its first weekly gain in three weeks. The dollar index fell 0.02% to 80.271. The dollar also rose to a three-week high against the yen, edging up 0.25% to 102.52 yen.

The euro rose 0.14% to $1.3737.

Brent crude oil slipped below $110 a barrel.

Oil prices fell, slightly eroding their sixth straight week of gains, as the colder-than-normal US winter that has lifted heating fuel demand gave way to milder temperatures, triggering a sell-off in heating oil.

Brent crude futures for April settled down 45 cents at $109.85 a barrel. US crude futures for April delivery fell 55 cents to settle at $102.20.

Bond investors, as often is the case, were a bit more skeptical about the economic outlook.

"We have not been trading particularly well in the face of soft data prior to today," said David Ader, an interest rate strategist at CRT Capital.

"We know the data is weather impacted, and it will continue to be weather impacted for many weeks, so I do not think they will be able to sell off much in the wake of all that data."

US government bond prices rose, with the 10-year note up 5/32 in price to yield 2.7337%.

US COMEX gold futures for April delivery settled up $6.70 an ounce at $1,323.60, with trading volume about 40% below its 30-day average, preliminary Reuters data showed.

In Europe, Spanish and Italian bond yields fell back toward eight-year lows in a broad-based rally in euro zone debt as uncertainty over the bloc's growth outlook bolstered expectations of further monetary easing by the European Central Bank.

German 10-year yields were down 36 basis points at 1.658%. Bund futures rose 0.42 ticks to settle at 143.87 euros.