Stock market reaches higher...Oil slips...Solar project can't save the forest for the trees?

NEW YORK (AP) — Many doubts still hang over the stock market, including the continued drop in corporate earnings and a U.S. economy that's growing only modestly. But various earnings and economic reports have come in better than expected. That led to a nearly 10 point gain of the S&P 500 on Friday. The index closed at 2,175. The Dow climbed more than 53 points to 18,570. And the Nasdaq rose 26 points to 5,100.

NEW YORK (AP) —Oil prices are down. Benchmark U.S. crude fell 56 cents, or 1.2 percent, on Friday to settle at $44.19 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, the global benchmark, fell 51 cents, or 1.1 percent, to $45.69 a barrel in London.

WADING RIVER, N.Y. (AP) — Solar energy ordinarily wins wide praise from groups that want to cut greenhouse gases. But a proposed solar project at a defunct nuclear power plant in New York is stirring outrage by some because it requires chopping down 350 acres of woodlands. The Long Island Pine Barrens Society says it's wrong to choose solar over forests. The proposal at the defunct Shoreham nuclear power plant calls for generating up to 72 megawatts of solar energy, providing power for more than 13,000 homes.

PANAMA CITY (AP) — Officials say a Chinese container ship scraped its side against the wall of a newly inaugurated lock on the enlarged section of the Panama Canal. It was one of a number of New Panamax ships to cross the locks on Thursday. The canal expansion has drawn concern about the relatively tight space and lack of maneuvering room it leaves for the bigger vessels it handles. The canal authority says the incident is under investigation.

QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — A Chevron spokesman says Ecuador has paid a $112 million arbitration award to the oil giant stemming from a 1990s-era oil contract dispute. The payment was ordered in 2011 by an international arbitration panel and later confirmed by U.S. courts and upheld by the Supreme Court. Ecuador's president had threatened to withhold payment and accused Chevron of seeking revenge for losing an unrelated drilling contamination case.

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