NEW YORK — Wall Street ended a volatile week with a moderate gain yesterday after better-than-expected economic data placated a market pummeled a day earlier by concerns about housing and the financial sector.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 21.41, or 0.19 percent, to 11,370.69. The Dow, which fluctuated at times yesterday, fell more than 280 points Thursday.

Broader stock indicators also rose. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index advanced 5.22, or 0.42 percent, to 1,257.76, and the technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index jumped 30.42, or 1.33 percent, to 2,310.53.

Stocks of Rhode Island interest rose, led by General Dynamics Corp. and Northrop Grumman Corp. The Bloomberg Rhode Island Index, a price-weighted list of companies with operations in the region, rose 1.16 to 244.64. General Dynamics rose $2.13 to $89.19. Northrop Grumman rose $1.81 to $68.63.

Financials drifted lower again on continued worries about the health of balance sheets, while a surge in profits at Juniper Networks Inc. lifted technology stocks.

The Commerce Department reported that orders sent to factories for big-ticket manufactured goods such as cars, appliances and machinery rose by 0.8 percent in June, the strongest gain in four months and well ahead of Wall Street’s expectations. But outside of demand for defense equipment, orders would have been up only modestly.

Another Commerce Department report showed that new-house sales dropped by a smaller-than-expected 0.6 percent. While it marked the seventh decline in the past eight months, it stirred some hope that the housing market could be finding a bottom. Investors hit the sell button Thursday after a weak reading on existing-house sales.

And there was good news about consumers, whose shyness about spending has troubled Wall Street because consumer spending accounts for more than two-thirds of U.S. economic activity. The Reuters/University of Michigan index of consumer sentiment for the first part of July came in at 61.2, while economists forecast a reading of 56.4. The reading was a slight rebound from a 28-year-low last month.

The Dow ended the week down 125.88, or 1.09 percent. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index finished down 2.92, or 0.23 percent, and the Nasdaq composite index ended the week up 27.75, or 1.22 percent.

The Russell 2000 index finished the week up 17.26, or 2.49 percent, at 710.34.

The Dow Jones Wilshire 5000 Composite Index — a free-float weighted index that measures 5,000 U.S.-based companies — ended yesterday at 12,837.10, down 6.41 points, or 0.05 percent, for the week. A year ago, the index was at 14,710.78.

Bond prices moved lower as investors shifted back into stocks. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, rose to 4.10 percent from 4.00 percent from late Thursday.

The dollar was mixed against other major currencies, while gold prices rose.

A barrel of light sweet crude fell $2.23 to settle at $123.26 on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Oil prices have fallen more than $20 in recent weeks, alleviating some of Wall Street’s concerns about the impact of inflation consumers’ ability to spend.

The stock market’s volatility during the week — rallying Tuesday and Wednesday only to erase those gains Thursday — illustrates tentativeness behind some of the bets investors are laying, said Hugh Johnson, chairman and chief investment officer of Johnson Illington Advisors. He said the market tends to react to whatever the latest headlines are.

“It’s just news sensitive and the real question is ‘What’s the next news going to be? Good or bad?’ That means that the market doesn’t have a trend or a direction. It depends entirely on whether the news is going to be good or bad on any given day and that doesn’t give you, as an investor, a lot of confidence,” he said.

Johnson said the ride for investors will likely remain uneven as Wall Street awaits next Friday’s government employment report for July.

“If the consensus is correct, they’ll have little choice but to leave interest rates unchanged,” he said referring to the difficulties Federal Reserve policymakers would have in hiking rates to battle inflation without damaging the economy.

Financial stocks fell as investors worried about the health of their balance sheets given the weakness in the housing sector. Bank of America Corp. fell $1.06, or 3.5 percent, to $29.58, while Wachovia Corp. fell $1.19, or 7.6 percent, to $14.50.

In corporate news, Juniper Networks, the maker of networking equipment, reported a 40-percent increase in earnings for the second quarter, helped by a new product line. Results narrowly surpassed Wall Street projections. The stock surged $4, or 18 percent, to $26.57.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac declined after credit ratings agency Standard & Poor’s put the risk-to-government, subordinated debt and preferred-stock ratings of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac on watch for possible downgrade. Fannie Mae fell 47 cents, or 3.9 percent, to $11.55, while Freddie Mac fell 54 cents, or 6.1 percent, to $8.27.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by about 3 to 2 on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to 1.29 billion shares compared with 1.65 billion shares traded Thursday.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 7.95, or 1.13 percent, to 710.34.

Overseas, Japan’s Nikkei stock average fell 1.97 percent. Britain’s FTSE 100 fell 0.18 percent, Germany’s DAX index slipped 0.06 percent, and France’s CAC-40 advanced 0.67 percent.