The Dow Jones Industrial Average
barely reached a seventh straight record high on Friday and the S&P 500 and
Nasdaq also closed at a record as gains in Kraft Heinz helped offset selling in
energy stocks.
After suffering losses for most
of the session, the Dow and S&P 500 turned positive in the final minutes of
a week fueled by the "Trump Rally" that has seen stocks surge since
the November presidential election.
"Corporate earnings are
fine, the economy's fine, the Fed's going to raise rates, and that's great for
financials," said John Canally, chief economic strategist for LPL
Financial.
Kraft Heinz (KHC) jumped 10.74
percent after it said it would continue to pursue a $143 billion bid for
Unilever (ULVR), despite being rebuffed. Unilever's U.S.-listed shares (UL)
surged 14.00 percent.
Eight of the 11 major S&P
sectors rose, with consumer staples (SPLS) adding 0.66 percent, helped by Kraft
Heinz (KHC) as well as a 4.32-percent increase in Colgate-Palmolive (CL) and a
4.19-percent rise in Kimberly-Clark (KMB).
The S&P energy sector fell
0.53 percent as oil prices slipped.
Signs of a strengthening economy
as well as anticipated tax cuts were behind the most recent optimism. With a
strong fourth-quarter earnings season mostly complete, many investors say they
need concrete signs of progress from Trump on his policy plans.
Uncertainty around other
potential Trump policies is an additional risk, some investors say.
"People are focusing on only
the good of what his campaign promises were," said Lindsey Bell, an
investment strategist at CFRA Research. "What makes me nervous is that it
feels like the market is ignoring what could come on immigration, trade,
healthcare - the negative implications that could come from a protectionist
government."
With a long weekend due to the
Presidents Day holiday on Monday, trading was a bit lighter than usual.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose
a marginal 0.02 percent to end at 20,624.05, while the S&P 500 gained 0.17
percent to 2,351.16. The Nasdaq Composite added 0.41 percent to 5,838.58.
For the week, the Dow rose 1.7
percent, the S&P 500 added 1.5 percent and the Nasdaq gained 1.8 percent.
UnitedHealth (UNH) sank 3.68
percent after it was sued by the U.S. Justice Department over Medicare charges.
Declining issues outnumbered advancing
ones on the NYSE by a 1.15-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.26-to-1 ratio favored
advancers.
The S&P 500 posted 46 new
52-week highs and one new low; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 141 new highs and
24 new lows.
About 6.4 billion shares changed
hands on U.S. exchanges, below the daily average of 6.8 billion over the last
20 sessions.
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