Market Summary October 16th

U.S. investors wrestled with the first big bunch of corporate results this week and came out ahead, even if only by a little. But the jury is still out on how this earnings season will go. After all, corporate earnings are still shrinking and revenue performance is spotty across the Standard & Poor's 500.

Next week brings results from an even larger array of companies, including 12 in the Dow Jones Industrial Average. That deluge should, by this time next week, give us a much better idea how the health of corporate America is holding up during flu season.

The Dow (.DJI) fell 67.03 points or 0.7% on Friday to close at 9,995.91. For the week the index managed a gain of 1.3%. The Nasdaq Composite Index (.COMP) fell 16.49 points or 0.8% on the day to close at 2,156.80, but still rose 0.8% for the week. The S&P 500 (.SPX) fell 8.88 points or 0.8% to close at 1,087.68 on the day, for a 1.5% weekly gain.

by Marketwatch