Wall Street stocks finished the week with another round of record highs as the sharp rally triggered by Donald Trump’s surprise presidential victory showed no signs of easing.
The S&P 500 market bellwether rose 0.6% to finish at a record closing high of 2,259.53, pulling off its sixth straight day of gains. That marks the index’s longest winning streak in two and half years. For the week, it is up 3%, its biggest weekly swing higher since mid-November.
The consumer staples sector led the gains, including Coca-Cola(NYSE:KO) up 2.5% at $42, which said its chief executive officer Muhtar Kent is stepping down. Health care and utility stocks also rose.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average and Nasdaq Composite similarly closed at historic highs and gained 3% and 3.6% for the week, respectively. The small-cap focused Russell 2000 ended edged 0.1% higher to 1388, yet managed to clock in a 5.6% weekly gain.
The S&P 500 was led higher by tech stock Broadcom Ltd (NASDAQ:AVGO), up 4.9% to $179.09 after the chipmaker released strong earnings and doubled its quarterly dividend.
The S&P Midcap 400 was the main laggard, closing down 0.2% at 1692 and led south by
Restoration Hardware Holdings (NYSE:RH), down 18.1% to $31.92, as investors punished the stock following the sharp decline in earnings and a dismal fiscal 2016 projection thereafter.
The S&P Smallcap 600 advanced by more than the wider small-cap Russell 2000, and closed up 0.3% at 857 – after posting another intraday record high of 858.99, and led by Emergent BioSolutions (NYSE:EBS) up 18.9% to $32.37.
Early trading
US stock indexes, large and small, posted record highs on Friday, extending a sharp rally that began after the US Presidential election on Nov. 8 when Donald Trump’s surprise victory stoked expectations of high economic growth, lower taxes and softer regulations, factors that some analysts expect will be a boon for equities.
The feel-good factor continued with the Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index for December posting 98.0 - a near two-year high. That’s even better than the forecast of 94.5 and up from an already buoyant 93.8 in November.
The S&P 500, Nasdaq Composite and Russell 2000 all notched new historic highs this session, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average was within 20 points of its record intraday level struck on Thursday.
In what would be a milestone for Wall Street, the Dow is within less then 400 points of striking the 20,000 level.
To put that in context, the Dow is already 2,150 points higher than it was this time last year.
That move higher by various indexes has been further fanned by oil prices that have remained in the $50 a barrel range amid expectations that the global glut of supply will begin easing next year – if OPEC keeps its word to cull 1.2mln barrels a day across the cartel.
The S&P 500 hit a record high of 2253.73 and was last up 0.3% at 2253.30, led by Biogen Inc (NASDAQ:BIIB) up 5.9% at $306.45.
After this week’s indiscriminate rout of healthcare stocks following Trump’s remarks that he would push drug prices south, it was reassuring to see a medical stock chirp. The stock extended gains which began just before the closing bell on Thursday, on the back of updated and embargoed aducanumab titration data leaked from the 9th Clinical Trials on Alzheimer's Disease (CTAD) congress.
The S&P Midcap 400 was half a point shy of a record high on Friday, down 0.05% at 1695.
But the S&P Smallcap 600 was 0.2% higher at 856, having also marked a record high intraday of 858.21, and led by Stillwater Mining Company (NYSE:SWC), up 19.1% to $17.50 after reporting overnight positive earnings estimates.
Pre-Open
US stocks are expected to open flat on Friday but with potential for fresh record highs on the cards.
Having receded by the Thursday close from intraday record highs the myriad of tickers won’t need much to propel them higher Friday. They have been powering higher for a month since the election of business-friendly Donald Trump to be the next US President.
But as inidicative of a flat open on Wall Street, bourses around the world aren't making any big moves. European stocks are mixed in early trading. Italian and Greek markets are each off by about 1%, but other indexes are sitting pretty.
The University of Michigan's consumer confidence index is being released at 1000 ET (1500 GMT).
US consumer confidence rose sharply in November and the new figures are expected to show the good mood continued in early December. The stock market's record-breaking performance should probably help. The consensus forecast is for 94.5.
After falling off a bit from their post-Opec meeting surge, oil prices were relatively steady on Friday, with Brent crude, the international benchmark, trimming early gains to sit relatively flat at $53.93 a barrel, and West Texas Intermediate gaining 0.35 per cent to $51.02 a barrel.
Among stock news, pharma Bristol-Myers Squibb () raised its quarterly dividend by 1 cent to 39 cents per share, starting with the first quarter of 2017. Shares were up 0.5% at $55.50 pre-market.
Genetics giant Monsanto (NYSE:MON) shares were lower pre-market by 0.3% at $104.35 after Washington state filed an environmental lawsuit against Monsanto, seeking damages and clean-up costs associated with the company's production of PCBs. The lawsuit seeks compensation for damages to Washington's natural resources, including the economic impact to the state and its residents.
Meanwhile, Shares of casino operators are bouncing back this morning, after Macau officials said they had not shrunk daily cash withdrawal limits for Chinese gamblers. A report in the South China Morning Post had said the amount allowed for withdrawal from automated teller machines would be cut in half.
Las Vegas Sands Corp (NYSE:LVS) was up 5.4% at $57.60, MGM Resorts International (NYSE:MGM) was up 3.1% at $29.55, and Wynn Resorts Ltd (NASDAQ:WYNN) up 5.8% at $96.01.