Oil prices pushed past the previous record close of $48.70 on Aug. 19, renewing investors' fears of $50-per-barrel prices. A barrel of light crude for November delivery settled at $48.88, up 42 cents, on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Investors got a lift earlier in the session from a Commerce Department report on durable goods orders for August. While orders for goods designed to last three or more years fell 0.5 percent for the month, a large falloff in aircraft orders was to blame. Without transportation equipment, durable goods orders rose a strong 2.3 percent — a sign that businesses and consumers may have started spending again after a nervous summer.

"Manufacturing seems to be going in the right direction, but the markets continue to yawn," said Hans Olsen, managing director and chief investment officer at Bingham Legg Advisers. "And with oil, I think, with the potential to crack $50 per barrel, it doesn't give us a lot of reasons to move substantially higher."

According to preliminary calculations, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 8.34, or 0.1 percent, to 10,047.24.

Broader stock indicators were narrowly mixed. The Standard & Poor's 500 index gained 1.75, or 0.2 percent, to 1,110.11, and the Nasdaq composite was down 6.95, or 0.4 percent, at 1,879.48.

For the week, the Dow fell 2.6 percent, the S&P was down 1.2 percent and the Nasdaq dropped 0.8 percent. Overall, it was the worst week for the markets since the first week of August.

As in August, oil prices weighed heavily on stocks through the week, but profit warnings and disappointing earnings from a wide range of companies — including Morgan Stanley, Wendy's International Inc., General Mills Inc. and Colgate-Palmolive Co. — also drove prices lower as investors feared a worse-than-expected earnings season next month.

Consumers' appetite for large purchases, which help fuel economic growth and benefit earnings, remained uncertain after the National Association of Realtors reported a drop in existing home sales in August. The association said 6.54 million homes were sold for the month, fewer than economists expected and down from 6.72 million in July.

The economic data, however, had little impact on investors, who seemed to be bargain-hunting after the week's substantial losses.

"The economic data is sending us mixed signals, good but really not great," said Bill Groenveld, head trader at vFinance Investments. "We're down this week, but if we can level off here for the next few weeks, if we can get some stability, I think we'll be set up nicely for the end of the year."