US mkts end flat despite good nos from BoA, Citi, GE

After a strong week for Wall Street, US markets ended Friday's trade flat inspite of positive earnings numbers from Bank Of America, Citigroup and General Electric. For the week the Dow and S&P were up over 7%. Nasdaq gained almost 8%.

The Dow added 32.12 points, or 0.4%, to 8,743.94. The S&P 500 index slipped 0.36 points, or less than 0.1%, to 940.38, while the Nasdaq composite index rose 1.58 points, or 0.1%, to 1,886.61.

On the earnings front, Bank Of America beat expectations with earnings of 33 cents per share against estimates of 29 cents. But the bank warned of a fresh surge in soured loans to credit card and mortgage business. Also Read - How ADRs performed

Citigroup also posted a quarterly profit. Gains from the sale of its Smith Barney brokerage into a joint venture more than offset losses from its primary banking businesses. Gain from that sale boosted net income to 4.3 billion dollar compared with a year-earlier loss of 2.50 billion dollars. Revenue rose by 71%, to 30 billion dollars.

General Electric reported a second-quarter profit of 26 cents a share, topping consensus estimates of 23 cents a share. Revenues came in lower by 17%, at 39 billion dollars was slightly below the 42 billion dollars that analysts had predicted.

In economic news, homebuilders made good gains after housing starts and building permits data for June came in higher than expected.

In commodities, crude jumps more than 2% to above USD 63 per barrel, staging their first weekly gain in a month, after US housing data sparked optimism that a battered sector of the economy may be primed for recovery.

In base metals, copper rose, capping the biggest weekly gain in four months, as US construction of single-family homes gained.

And in currencies, the dollar rose as mixed US corporate earnings raised some concern about the economy and enhanced the dollar's safe-haven appeal.