S&P 500 closed at record high on Friday

The S&P 500 reached a new closing high for a second day straight on Friday in choppy trade after disappointing reports on US industrial production and consumer confidence. The S&P 500 is a stock market index of the 500 biggest companies in America (in terms of market capitalization) listed on NASDAQ and the New York Stock Exchange.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index gained 1.63, or 0.1 percent, closing at 2,122.73 and topping its previous close on Thursday (2,121.10).

Technology stocks performed the best, with the S&P 500 Information Technology index rallying 1.6 per cent.

The Dow Jones Industrial gained 20.08, up 0.11 percent, closing at 18,272.32, while the Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 2.50, down 0.05 percent, to 5,048.29.

The yield on 10-year Treasury note dropped to 2.14% on Friday from 2.23% the previous day.

Oil prices were down, with U.S. crude dipping 0.6% to $59.55 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

 

For the week, the Dow climbed 0.4 percent, the S&P increased 0.3 percent and the Nasdaq gained 0.9 percent.

Weak US economic reports

Trade was choppy on Friday after reports of weak economic data.

Industrial production dropped 0.3% last month – the fifth consecutive month of decline. And consumer sentiment also disappointed, falling sharply in May, with the University of Michigan preliminary index down to 88.6 from 95.9 in April.

Other markets

In Asia, the Nikkei 225 climbed 0.8% to 19,732.92, the Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index was up 2% to 27,822.28, and the Shanghai composite index fell 1.6% to 4,308.69.

In Europe, the FTSE 100 dropped 0.2% and Germany’s DAX index dropped 1%.