A record week for Wall Street
Wall Street capped a week with no shortage of milestones with a few more Friday. U.S. stocks closed modestly higher, lifting the Standard & Poor's 500 index to its fifth record close in a row. The Dow Jones industrial average, which crossed past the 23,000 mark for the first time on Wednesday, also finished the day with its fifth-straight all-time high.
Wall Street capped a week with no shortage of milestones with a few more Friday.
U.S. stocks closed modestly higher, lifting the Standard & Poor's 500 index to its fifth record close in a row. The Dow Jones industrial average, which crossed past the 23,000 mark for the first time on Wednesday, also finished the day with its fifth-straight all-time high.
Banks led the gainers Friday. Technology companies also posted big gains, helping to drive the Nasdaq composite to a record high.
The latest milestones came as investors drew encouragement from the Senate's passage of a budget bill that is expected to ease the path for the White House's tax cut proposal.
The S&P 500 index rose 13.11 points, or 0.5 percent, to 2,575.21. The Dow gained 165.59 points, or 0.7 percent, to 23,328.63. The Nasdaq composite added 23.99 points, or 0.4 percent, to 6,629.05. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks picked up 7.20 points, or 0.5 percent, to 1,509.25.
The S&P 500 and the Dow are now on a six-week winning streak.
Synchrony Financial gained $1.33, or 4.2 percent, to $33.04. Citizens Financial Group picked up 90 cents, or 2.4 percent, to $38.33. Both also reported higher quarterly earnings than analysts had been expecting.
PayPal Holdings climbed 5.5 percent after the payment technology company reported big gains in new users and transactions. The stock rose $3.72 to $70.97.
Skechers USA soared 41.4 percent after the shoe company said that its profit and sales were stronger than analysts expected. The stock rose $9.96 to $33.99.
Benchmark U.S. crude added 18 cents to settle at $51.47 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Gold fell $9.50 to $1,280.50 an ounce. Silver lost 18 cents to $17.09 an ounce. Copper was little changed at $3.17 a pound.
The dollar strengthened to 113.50 yen from 112.65 yen on Thursday. The euro fell to $1.1780 from $1.1830.