Investing.com – Stocks surged Friday setting new closing and intraday highs, as investors cheered decent economic news and were relieved when the White House said trade negotiations with China were progressing.
The Dow Jones industrials, up 0.8%, closed at a record 28,005, as it finished with its fourth-weekly gain in a row. The S&P 500, up 0.77%, finished higher for a sixth-straight week. The Nasdaq Composite rose 0.73% and finished higher for a seventh-straight week.
All three indexes, plus the Nasdaq 100 Index and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index, saw new intraday highs as well.
For the year, the S&P 500 is up 24.5%, with the Dow up 20% and the Nasdaq up 28.7%. The market has spent much of 2019 recovering from the slump that hit stocks in the fourth quarter of 2018. The major averages are well on track to see their biggest one-year gains since 2013.
There was a downside to the market rally. The relative strength indexes for the S&P 500, Dow and Nasdaq all topped 70, a level that is a warning the market could be overbought and vulnerable to a pullback.
A host of stocks hit all-time intraday highs during the day, including Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), paint-maker Sherwin-Williams (NYSE:SHW), Google parent Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL), Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT), Walmart (NYSE:WMT) and Walt Disney (NYSE:DIS).
The catalysts on the day were assurances from White House economic advisor Larry Kudlow late Thursday that negotiations on a U.S.-Chinese trade deal were progressing. President Donald Trump, however, has not yet assented to the terms.
China is balking about agreeing to a dollar amount of purchases of U.S. farm products. It also wants tariffs set for the December rescinded.
Meanwhile, the government said retail sales for October were up 0.3%, a solid, if not great showing after a decline in September. The report helped many investors put away their fears of a recession.
A downside on the economy was that industrial production fell 0.8%, its third monthly decline in a row. Most economists see that as a function of the trade fight.
Health, industrial and technology stocks powered the market, especially the Dow.
Oil prices moved higher, as did interest rates.
The 10-year Treasury yield rose to 1.834%, from Thursday's 1.815%. The yield is 8.66% higher for the month but off 5.7% for the week.
West Texas Intermediate crude moved up 95 cents to $57.72 a barrel, a six-week high. Brent crude, the global benchmark, gained $1.02 to $63.30.
Gold fell $4.90 an ounce to $1,468.50 an ounce in New York, as investors looked to put money in stocks and related assets. Gold rose 0.4% on the week but is down 3.1% so far in November.
Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT), health-insurance giants Anthem (NYSE:ANTM) and Humana (NYSE:HUM) and managed-care company Centene (NYSE:CNC) were among the top performers in the S&P 500.
Electric-utility company CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP), appliance maker Whirlpool (NYSE:WHR), seed-and-agricultural chemical company Corteva Inc (NYSE:CTVA) and chemical giant DuPont (NYSE:DD) were among the S&P 500 giants.