Mixed close on Wall Street with weak econ data, oil rise

NEW YORK (AA) -- Wall Street closed mixed Friday as weak economic data was offset by gains in oil prices and stocks at tech companies.

The Dow Jones fell 37 points to end the day at 18,576 and the S&P 500 was flat with a one-point decline to 2,184.

The Nasdaq finished the day up four points to a new record high of 5,233. It was the seventh straight weekly gain for the index.

Crude oil prices continued to increase after Saudi Arabia announced Thursday it would participate in OPEC's informal meeting in Algeria at the end of September to discuss low prices and the current market environment.

At the final bell, American benchmark West Texas Intermediate was up 2.4 percent to $47.19, and international benchmark Brent crude was at $44.66 on a 2.7 percent increase.

Stocks were up at tech companies, helping Nasdaq to close the day with gains.

After announcing strong quarterly results Thursday, shares of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba rose more than 7 percent Friday. Computer graphics company Nvidia's stock value increased 5.6 percent, while Yahoo shares rose more than 4 percent.

Despite the rise in oil prices and tech companies, the Dow and the S&P could not help the sell-off due to weak data about the U.S. economy, including a dip in the Producer Price Index. And retail sales in July remained unchanged from the previous month, according to the Commerce Department. Analysts expected a 0.4 percent increase.