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1st LD Writethru: U.S. stocks end narrowly mixed amid weak data

Xinhua, May 16, 2015 Adjust font size:

U.S. stocks finished mixed after wavering in a tight range on Friday, with the S&P 500 eclipsing previous session's closing record, as a string of economic reports came out negative.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 20.32 points, or 0.11 percent, to 18,272.56. The S&P 500 gained 1.63 points, or 0.08 percent, to 2,122.73. The Nasdaq Composite Index edged down 2.50 points, or 0.05 percent, to 5,048.29.

U.S. industrial production decreased 0.3 percent in April for its fifth consecutive monthly loss, missing market expectations, the Federal Reserve said Friday. Manufacturing output was unchanged in April after recording an upwardly revised gain of 0.3 percent in March.

"It should come as no surprise that the manufacturing sector is having a rough go since currency appreciation and commodity prices caused domestic firms to halt some production and cut margins; the question is only how long it lasts," said Jay Morelock, an economist at FTN Financial, in a note.

U.S. consumer sentiment fell to a preliminary May reading of 88. 6, the lowest level since November 2014, compared with a final April level of 95.9, according to reports on the University of Michigan gauge released Friday.

Meanwhile, the May 2015 Empire State Manufacturing Survey indicated that business conditions improved slightly for New York manufacturers. The headline general business conditions index showed a reading of 3.09, missing market expectations.

The U.S. dollar continued to trade lower on Friday, holding near its lowest level since January against a currency basket. The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major currencies, was down 0.18 percent at 93.292 in late trading.

In corporate news, shares of Netflix jumped 4.50 percent to 613. 25 dollars apiece Friday on the news that the video streaming company is in talks with a Chinese media company to enter China's online-video market.

For the week, all the three major indices posted sizable gains with the Dow, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq up 0.4 percent, 0.3 percent and 0.9 percent, respectively. Endite