Dow ends choppy day slightly lower, Nasdaq gains

US stocks ended a rocky week on a muted note Friday, with the Dow dipping and Nasdaq advancing as fears about a global economic slowdown due to China tested sentiment.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 11.76 points (0.07 percent) at 16,643.01.

The broad-based S&P 500 added 1.21 (0.06 percent) at 1,988.87, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index gained 15.62 (0.32 percent) at 4,828.32.

"We certainly arrested the selling that we saw at the end of last week and the beginning of this week," said Mace Blicksilver, director at Marblehead Asset Management.

"There is a lot of concern about slowing growth, and we still don't know what the Fed is going to do," he said, referring to the Federal Reserve's plan to raise interest rates this year.

Moody's slashed its 2016 growth forecast for the Group of 20 economies to 2.8 percent from 3.1 percent due to the hit from a slowing Chinese economy.

US Federal Reserve Vice Chair Stanley Fischer told CNBC it was "too early to tell" whether the markets turmoil sparked by China has lessened the argument for a long-expected increase in the federal funds rate.

Petroleum-linked stocks were strong as oil prices rallied sharply for a second day in a row. Dow member Chevron jumped 3.6 percent, oil services titan Schlumberger added 3.0 percent and Apache gained 4.8 percent.

Several leading tech companies also rose, including Facebook (+1.4 percent) and Tesla Motors (+2.3 percent). Apple gained 0.3 percent.

Videogame developer Activision Blizzard and airline United Continental both jumped following an S&P Dow Jones Indices announcement that they would be added to the S&P 500.

Activision advanced 4.6 percent, while United surged 7.1 percent.

Metals and oil producer Freeport-McMoRan rose 3.0 percent as activist investor Carl Icahn disclosed an 8.5 percent stake in the company. Icahn said in a securities filing that he would engage Freeport management on strategy and capital structure and may seek a board seat.

Bond prices edged up. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury fell to 2.18 percent from 2.19 percent Thursday, while the 30-year dropped to 2.92 percent from 2.93 percent. Bond prices and yields move inversely.