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Wall Street ended the week with a choppy trading session. Early gains gave way to mid-day selling. The Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq finished lower. Looking at the action for the week: The Dow fell for the first time in three weeks. But the Nasdaq posted a gain. Investors had a hard time overlooking mixed signals from the consumer. JC Penney slashed its outlook for the quarter - saying its core, middle-income shoppers are being squeezed by economic conditions. And consumer sentiment tumbled to a 16-year low, according to the Reuters-University of Michigan final reading for March. But not all news on the consumer was bad. Americans had more money to spend in February, according to government statistics. And a key measure of consumer inflation saw a minor rise. Looking at the retailers: JC Penney was down sharply and other mid-tier department stores like Kohl's and Macy's - down as well. Financials were another sore spot. Citigroup is expected to swing to a quarterly loss amid writedowns, according to Credit Suisse. That mid-day call offset an upgrade of Lehman Brothers. Citigroup says Lehman has enough liquidity to run its business. Lehman gave up an early rally and Citigroup saw a decline. BlackBerry maker Research in Motion is set to gain market share against rivals Palm and Motorola, according to RBC Capital Markets. And Apple is expected to launch a high speed version of the iPhone this spring, according to Bank of America. Both stocks rallied on upbeat analysts comments. Oil prices ended the week lower thanks to a quick fix of an Iraqi pipeline attacked a day earlier. Crude oil fell and settled below $106 a barrel. European shares also ended the week with a negative tone. Inflationary signals suggest the European Central Bank does not have the room to lower rates. That disappointment prompted a minor sell-off for the German Dax, the Paris CAC-40 and the London FTSE. Conway Gittens, Reuters. COMPANIES MENTIONED: JC Penney, Kohl's, Macy's, Lehman Brothers, Citigroup, Research in Motion, Apple SYMBOLS: JCP, KSS, M, LEH, C, RIMM, AAPL