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A strong report on employment and corporate earnings pushed up US stocks on Friday, allowing the S & P 500 to make its second consecutive weekly gain.
The Nasdaq composite reached an all-time high for the second time this week. The benchmark S & P 500 closed at less than 0.1% below the record reached on Tuesday.
Technology-based companies and consumers have done everything to push the market higher. Shares in the communications, industrial, financial and healthcare sectors also posted solid gains, with traders looking forward to surprisingly good results from United States Steel, Weight Watchers and others. companies.
Investors also welcomed the latest government snapshot of US employment, which showed that job growth had risen in April, according to economists' forecasts, and that unemployment had fallen to its lowest level in five years.
"Overall, this was a solid report that should allay fears of the US economy losing steam," said Quincy Krosby, chief market strategist at Prudential Financial.
The S & P 500 index gained 28.12 points, or 1%, to 2,945.64. The Dow Jones Industrial Average index rose 197.16 points, or 0.7%, to 26,504.95. The Nasdaq composite climbed 127.22 points, or 1.6%, to 8,164.
Smaller stocks rose much more than the rest of the market, a bullish sign that investors are more willing to take risks. The Russell 2000 Index gained 31.37 points, or 2%, to 1,614.02.
Major indices in Europe also closed higher.
Bond prices rose, bringing the 10-year US Treasury yield down to 2.52% from 2.55% on Thursday night.
Despite a slight decline earlier this week, US stocks continued to press, extending their impressive recovery this year after a sharp decline at the end of 2018.
The S & P 500 is now up 17.5% for the year. The Nasdaq is however in the lead with a gain of 23%.
The Federal Reserve fueled the market recovery earlier this year, indicating that it would be patient to raise interest rates. Traders were also encouraged by positive data on the US economy and by corporate earnings, which exceeded expectations.
Business profits for the first quarter have been mixed so far, but good enough to dispel fears of a slump in corporate profits.
United States Steel climbed 17.3% on Friday, after a sharp rise in sales that pushed earnings well beyond Wall Street forecasts.
Newell Brands, which manufactures Sharpie and Elmer products, jumped 13.5% on a strong earnings report.
Monster Beverage jumped 8.8% after the energy drink company boosted analysts' first-quarter earnings forecasts. The company announced a strong increase in sales of its energy drink of the same name, which contributed to the rise in profits.
Weight Watchers jumped 13% after reporting much lower than expected losses in the first quarter. The company also raised its earnings guidance for the year.
Arista Networks, a cloud computing company, dropped 10.4% after announcing to investors that current quarter earnings would be lower than expected.
At the same time, Amazon rose 3.2% after billionaire investor Warren Buffet said his company was buying the shares.
Crude oil prices recovered some of their losses a day earlier. US benchmark crude increased 0.2% to $ 61.94 per barrel. Brent, the international standard, gained 0.1% to close at $ 70.85.
In other commodity trade, wholesale gasoline rose 0.4% to $ 2.03 a gallon. Heating oil slipped 0.4% to $ 2.07 a gallon. Natural gas declined 0.8% to $ 2.57 per 1,000 cubic feet.
Gold gained 0.7% to $ 1,281.30 an ounce, silver jumped 2.5% to $ 14.98 an ounce and copper, from 1.4% to $ 2.82 per pound.
The dollar weakened to 111.09 Japanese yen from 111.50 yen on Thursday night. The euro went from 1.1175 USD to 1.1194 USD.
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Damian J. Troise, editor of AP Business magazine, contributed to this report.
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