Investing.com – U.S. stocks rounded off the trading week in record setting style as investor optimism for a solid third-quarter earnings season sparked a broad based rally in equities.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed higher at 22,872. The S&P 500 closed 0.09% higher while the Nasdaq Composite closed at 6605.80, up 0.22%.
Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) set the tone of the day, revealing better-than-expected performance on both the top and bottom lines despite a slowdown in its fixed-income trading business.
In the tech sector, Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) was one of the largest gainers as investors piled into its shares ahead of the streaming giant’s earnings report due Monday amid expectations the company will show bullish growth for the third quarter.
"People are generally expecting a strong earnings season," said Tom Martin, senior portfolio manager at Globalt.
On the economic front, investors digested a mixed economic reports on inflation and retail sales.
The Labor Department said on Friday its Consumer Price Index rose 0.5% last month after advancing 0.4% in August. That missed economists forecast of a 0.6% rise.
Meanwhile, retail sales rose 1.6%, their biggest gain since 2015, the Commerce Department said on Friday. Economists had expected a 1.7% increase.
The slowdown in inflation drew concerns from analysts who questioned the Fed’s plan to hike rates in December.
“We are increasingly concerned that the FOMC’s insistence on pushing toward a December rate hike risks a policy-error,” wrote Ian Lyngen, head of U.S. rates strategy at BMO Capital Markets.
Meanwhile, renewed geopolitical uncertainty capped upside momentum as North Korea revived an earlier threat to strike Guam following ongoing U.S-South Korea military drills.
'Bulls and Bears' on Wall Street
The top Dow gainers for the session: American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) up 1.4%, Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) up 1.2% and Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) up 1%
Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE:VZ) down 0.8%, Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK) down 0.6% and Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS) down 0.5%, were among the worst Dow performers of the session.