Oil prices went below $43 per barrel after spiking higher yesterday. A barrel of light crude settled at $42.81, down $1.80, on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Investors also welcomed the 0.1 percent drop in the Producer Price Index, the Labor Department's measure of wholesale prices, as a sign that the economy has managed to keep inflation at bay despite this summer's rising oil costs.

According to preliminary calculations, the Nasdaq gained 24.66, or 1.3 percent, to 1,894.31.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index was up 5.54, or 0.5 percent, at 1,123.92, and the Dow Jones industrial average rose 23.97, or 0.2 percent, to 10,313.07.

For the week, the Dow rose 0.5 percent and the S&P was up 0.9 percent, while the Nasdaq soared 2.7 percent, though the tech-focused index remains down 5.4 percent for the year.

New uncertainties kept stocks volatile through the week, with concerns over employment, oil prices and earnings all weighing on Wall Street. Positive earnings outlooks from Nokia Corp. and Texas Instruments Inc. boosted long-suffering tech stocks and the Nasdaq, while blue chips suffered from muddled economic data and negative outlooks.

The drop in wholesale prices was encouraging considering that, aside from food and oil prices, which can vary widely, the "core" PPI also fell 0.1 percent, showing that wholesale prices have become somewhat resilient to high energy costs.

The economic data, combined with some worrisome third-quarter profit warnings, raised new questions about whether the Federal Reserve needs to raise interest rates at its Sept. 21 meeting. The Fed is widely expected to raise the benchmark lending rate from 1.5 percent to 1.75 percent. However, the unevenness of the economic recovery — lagging jobs, a lack of inflationary pressure and underperforming companies — combined with the election could persuade the Fed to hold off until after Nov. 2.

Alcoa fell $2.54 to $30.75 after reducing its forecasts for the third quarter due to labor issues and plant closings. Alcoa expects to earn 30 cents to 35 cents per share, far less than Wall Street's forecast of 52 cents a share.

Visteon cited Ford Motor Co.'s cutbacks in production as a factor in taking a one-time charge of up to $900 million in the third quarter. The company also warned that profits in the second half of 2004 and for the full year will be below expectations. Visteon tumbled $1 to $8, while Ford slipped 21 cents to $13.96.