By Chuck Mikolajczak
NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks were little changed on Friday, with the Dow and S&P 500 near record highs as investors assessed the impact of oil prices on the economy.
A stronger dollar and decline in gasoline prices affected a trio of economic reports on Friday as overall retail sales rose more than expected while U.S. import prices fell in September by the most in more than two years.
In addition, the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan's preliminary reading on the overall index on consumer sentiment for this month came in at 89.4, the highest since July 2007, buoyed by falling unemployment and gas prices.
"It's a consolidating day and everyone is focused on oil, what is oil telling us here?" said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Rockwell Global Capital in New York.
"Is it going down because of a price war, or is it going down because of the prospects of the global economy slowing even further?"
More From This Section
Brent crude was up 2.5 percent at $79.40 a barrel, bouncing from a four-year low, while U.S. crude advanced 1.4 percent to $75.22. [O/R]
While the Dow and S&P have continued to set record highs, recent gains have been modest, with the S&P 500 yet to post a gain of at least 1 percent this month. The benchmark S&P index is on pace for a fourth straight weekly gain.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 2.04 points, or 0.01 percent, to 17,650.75, the S&P 500 gained 1.05 points, or 0.05 percent, to 2,040.38 and the Nasdaq Composite added 3.34 points, or 0.07 percent, to 4,683.48.
The S&P 500 is up 0.4 percent for the week and has rallied 9.5 percent from a six-month low in October, buoyed by supportive economic data and corporate earnings. For the year so far, it is up 10.3 percent.
Baker Hughes gained 0.3 percent to $58.90. The oilfield services company said it was in preliminary merger talks with larger rival Halliburton Co, which was little changed at $53.75.
Virgin America Inc, a low-cost airline partly owned by Richard Branson, soared as much as 28 percent in its market debut, underscoring the buoyant mood in an industry that is seeing relief from lower oil prices. Shares were last up 27.5 percent to $29.33.
Geron Corp surged 26.4 percent to $2.92 after it licensed its cancer compound to a Johnson & Johnson unit for up to $935 million.
(Editing by Bernadette Baum and Nick Zieminski)