Wall Street closes up but ends week lower, Europe stocks down

New York: US stocks erased early losses to close up on Friday but still finished the week lower on mixed economic data, while European equities had their first weekly drop since April on worries over Iraq and Ukraine.

U.S. Treasuries yields eased at the end of a week of steady price gains for government bonds, fueled by increasing worries that economic growth in the world`s No. 1 economy may be slower than policymakers believe.

Worries about the economy persisted despite U.S. consumer sentiment rising more than expected in a final June reading of a Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan poll issued on Friday.

The dollar fell a quarter percent against a basket of major currencies for a second week of losses.

Stocks on Wall Street rebounded in late trading, led by technology stocks such as Apple Inc, while a downbeat second-quarter forecast from DuPont Co limited gains.

The S&P 500 finished in striking distance of the intraday record high it hit on Tuesday. But some held their breath in the prelude to the earnings period that will start in the next two weeks, which will provide clues on whether the economy and profits are both picking up.

"Prices have finally achieved a certain valuation level that has become increasingly uncomfortable for market participants in the absence of further decisive evidence that the economy is on the right track," said Mark Luschini, chief investment strategist at Janney Montgomery Scott in Philadelphia.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 5.71 points, or 0.03 percent, to end at 16,851.84. The S&P 500 gained 3.74 points, or 0.19 percent, to finish at 1,960.96. The Nasdaq Composite advanced 18.88 points, or 0.43 percent, to close at 4,397.93.

For the week, the Dow fell 0.6 percent and the S&P 500 dipped 0.1 percent. The Nasdaq added 0.7 percent for its sixth weekly rise in the past seven.

The 10-year benchmark yield was at 2.5340 percent, after hitting a low of 2.507 percent earlier in the day.

Europe`s main stock indicator, the FTSEurofirst300 settled at 1,371.28, flat on the day, but down 1.7 percent for its first weekly loss in 10 weeks. The MSCI world stocks gauge was at 428.10, up 0.2 percent on the day but down 0.3 percent on the week.

Gold had a fourth straight weekly gain to above USD1,316 an ounce, as geopolitical unrest in Iraq and Ukraine boosted the precious metal`s appeal and soft U.S. data weakened the dollar.

Brent crude oil settled at USD113.30 a barrel, up 0.1 percent on the day but down 1.4 percent on the week for its worst week in a month as fighting in Iraq stayed away from the country`s south, where most of its oil is produced.