Stocks were tepid Friday as traders waffled over a better than expected reading on consumer sentiment, a rescue plan for Greece and a slight downward revision to the fourth-quarter gross domestic product.

For the week, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 1%, the S&P 500 added 0.6%, and the Nasdaq advanced 0.8%. But on Friday, an early rally faded and left the major indexes mostly flat for the day. By the end of the session, the Dow had risen 9 points to 10,850. The S&P 500 had picked up a point at 1167, and the Nasdaq had edged down 2 to 2395.

“We’re coming into quarter end, there are some nice profits and traders are maybe just a bit on the edgy side, and if there’s a negative catalyst – doesn’t have to be a big one – they’ll pull back on position,” says Fred Dickson, DA Davidson chief market analyst. “The market is basically just drifting into the end of the week.”

But the pullback may have had more to do with the major indices’ next benchmarks than the data released today. “Traders seem to have set an artificial target, and as the market has moved up to that [S&P 500] 1180 level, without breaching it, and that in itself may be the cause of selling,” Dickson says.

“What we’re seeing now is some hesitancy due to the fact that we’re getting some resistance as we approach psychological levels like 11,000 on the Dow and 1200 on the S&P 500,” says Peter Cardillo, chief market economist for Avalon Partners.

“The market is positioning itself for an abbreviated week next week with a lot of economic data on the plate,” Cardillo adds. The March unemployment figures are scheduled to be released next Friday, and the ADP private sector employment report is scheduled to be released Wednesday.

Stocks initially moved higher as the European Union and the International Monetary Fund arrived at a plan to save Greece from a debt crises that has sparked international angst.

The news overshadowed a downward revision to fourth-quarter production at home. The U.S. government said GDP grew at an annualized rate of 5.6% in the last quarter of 2009, less than the 5.9% previously estimated.

Separately, the University of Michigan consumer sentiment index rose by slightly more than expected, to 73.6 in March, up from 72.5.

Elsewhere on the economic front, the U.S. Treasury Department of Office of Public Affairs announced adjustment to the Home Affordable Modification Program and Federal Housing Administration programs. The government said the changes should expand flexibility for mortgage servicers and originators to assist more unemployed home owners and help people who owe more on their mortgage than their home is worth because of declines in local markets.

Among the early movers, Oracle (ORCL) and Accenture (ACN) were headed in opposite directions after the former topped expectations and the latter missed Street estimates with earnings late Thursday.

Stocks overseas were mixed with the FTSE in London and Dax in Frankfurt falling 0.4% and 0.2%, respectively, after the Nikkei in Japan added 1.6%.

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