Stocks close out best week of the year with small gain
NEW YORK - The stock market closed out its best week this year with a modest gain Friday, helped by airlines and industrial companies.
NEW YORK - The stock market closed out its best week this year with a modest gain Friday, helped by airlines and industrial companies.
Investors now turn their focus to corporate earnings, which will start to pick up next week.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 33.74 points, or 0.2 percent, to 17,084.49. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 1.46 points, or 0.1 percent, to 2,014.89, and the Nasdaq composite rose 19.68 points, or 0.4 percent, to 4,830.47.
The S&P 500 ended the week up 3.3 percent, its best week since mid-December. Global markets also had a strong week, with markets in Germany and France rising more than 5 percent. In Asia, markets in Japan, China, and Hong Kong are up roughly 4 percent each.
Most of the gains this week came immediately following the release of last week's disappointing jobs report, which sent a signal to investors that the Federal Reserve would hold pat on raising interest rates at least for several months. That signal was reinforced Thursday, when the minutes from the September Fed meeting showed policymakers are too concerned about low inflation and the slowdown in China to raise interest rates.
"In short, we found little to change our view that the first Fed hike will not occur in 2015 [and the] market has reached the same conclusion," wrote Ajay Rajadhyaksha, head of fixed income at Barclays, in a report.
One sector that did push higher was airlines. The companies said they flew nearly full flights last month, an important profit driver for the industry. United Continental flew flights on average 82.9 percent full, while American Airlines reported its flights were 82.7 percent full.
United Continental rose 6.6 percent; American rose 6.7 percent; and JetBlue Airways and Southwest Airlines added 3 percent each.
One industrial company that did not do well was Alcoa, which fell 75 cents, or 7 percent, to $10.26. The company reported a steep drop in profits for its third quarter, citing lower aluminum prices and a strong U.S. dollar.