S&P 500 keeps streak going

NEW YORK - The S&P 500 kept its winning streak alive, but just barely.

In a week of a couple big mergers, the Standard & Poor's 500 ended the week nearly two points higher, enough to give it a seventh straight week of gains. That's the longest stretch of advances in more than two years.

The index lost 1.59 points to end at 1,519.79 Friday. For the week it held on to a gain of 1.86 points.

Investors piled into stocks at the beginning of the year. The gains continued as investors were encouraged by signs that the housing and job markets are recovering. Company earnings have also held up well.

There are signs, however, that the rally is running out of steam. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 8.37 points to close at 13,981.76 Friday, but ended the week down 11 points. The index has now edged lower for two straight weeks.

Walmart was the biggest decliner in the Dow on Friday. The stock fell $1.52, or 2.2 percent, to $69.30 after Bloomberg News published excerpts from an internal e-mail that said sales in February were a "total disaster." The retailer, which reports earnings next week, said that sometimes internal communications lacked "proper context" and "are not entirely accurate."

Energy companies also contributed to the slump, following the price of crude oil lower. Chevron dropped 75 cents, or 0.6 percent, to $114.96.

The Nasdaq composite fell 6.63 points to 3,192.03 and was also down for the week, dropping 1.84 points.

Herbalife gained 47 cents, or 1.2 percent, to $38.74, and climbed as high as $44.93 after the billionaire investor Carl Icahn disclosed that he had accumulated a 13 percent stake in the company. The stock of the dietary supplement maker slumped last year after Pershing Square Capital Management's William Ackman described it as a massive pyramid scheme and placed bets that it would fall.