Wall Street halts 2-day sharp selloff, ending week lower

U.S. stocks closed mixed on Friday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 bouncing back after a massive two-day selloff triggered by the Federal Reserve\'s possible tapering of its bond purchases later this year. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 41.08 points, or 0.28 percent, to 14,799.40 points. The S&P 500 rallied 4.24 points, or 0.27 percent, to 1,592.43 points. The Nasdaq Composite Index shed 7.38 points, or 0.22 percent, to 3,357.25 points. For the week, the Dow and the S&P 500 lost 1.80 percent and 2. 11 percent respectively, their second worst weekly loss this year. The Nasdaq dipped 1.94 percent for the week. Wall Street opened higher, on the heels of a rebound in global stock markets on Friday, with Japan\'s benchmark Nikkei leading the fightback to close 1.66 percent higher. However, the U.S. equity market retreated in late morning trading session, led by techs. Oracle shares plunged 9.26 percent to 30.14 U.S. dollars after the enterprise software giant reported its fourth fiscal quarter earnings late Thursday. Its net profit rose year-on-year but sales missed analysts\' expectations. Financial shares also tumbled on reports that U.S. regulators are weighing the idea of doubling the capital requirement for the biggest banks in the country. The European stocks closed in red territory after posting gains earlier Friday, also adding negative sentiment to the U.S. market. In the afternoon trading session, the market recovered again, sending the Dow and S&P 500 into green territory, as most analysts believe the equity market\'s sharp fall Wednesday and Thursday was a bit overdone. On the previous trading day, the three stock indices dropped to their lowest levels over one and a half months. The Dow and S&P 500 logged their biggest one-day losses since November 2011. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke struck a hawkish chord at a news conference on Wednesday following a two-day policy meeting by saying bond buying could be reduced later this year, depending on conditions. St. Louis Fed President James Bullard, one of the two members of the Federal Open Market Committee who dissented with the June meeting decision, said in a statement Friday that \"the Committee\'s decision to authorize the Chairman to lay out a more elaborate plan for reducing the pace of asset purchases was inappropriately timed.\" \"Policy actions should be undertaken to meet policy objectives, not calendar objectives,\" Bullard added. There were no major economic data for release on Friday. The CBOE Volatility Index, widely considered as a fear gauge of the market, fell 7.76 percent to end at 18.90, one day after hitting 20 for the first time this year. Most key sectors in the S&P 500 finished higher, led by utilities and consumer staples. In other markets, light, sweet crude for August delivery lost 1. 45 dollars to settle at 93.69 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange on Friday. While Brent for August delivery went down 1.24 dollars to close at 100.91 dollars a barrel. Gold future for August delivery on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange added 5.8 dollars, or 0.45 percent, to settle at 1,292 dollars per ounce on Friday. The gold price logged biggest weekly losses since April. The U.S. dollar rose for a third day against major currencies on Friday. In late New York trading, the euro dropped to 1.3139 dollars from 1.3196 dollars of the previous session and the British pound decreased to 1.5427 dollars from 1.5478 dollars.