Stock market today: Wall Street hits more records and posts its latest winning week

NEW YORK — US stocks rose to more records and ended their longest weekly winning streak of the year. The S&P 500 rose 0.4% on Friday. The benchmark index surpassed the all-time high it set earlier this week and posted a sixth consecutive winning week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.1% to its own record set the previous day, and the Nasdaq gained 0.6%. Netflix helped boost the market after the streaming giant reported stronger-than-expected quarterly earnings. Crude oil prices fell a bit more and Treasury yields fell in the bond market.

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NEW YORK – U.S. stocks are climbing to record highs on Friday as the S&P 500 caps a sixth straight week of gains for its longest weekly winning streak of the year.

Wall Street’s main measure of health was 0.5% higher in the afternoon and is on track to surpass its all-time high earlier this week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 64 points, or 0.1%, a day after setting its own record, and the Nasdaq Composite was up 0.7% as of 2:45 p.m. ET .

Netflix helped boost the market with a 10.8% jump after the streaming giant reported stronger-than-expected quarterly profit. This was despite slowing subscriber growth.

It helped offset a 5.5% drop in CVS Health, which said it was likely to report a profit for the latest quarter well below analysts’ expectations. The company also said David Joyner, executive vice president, will take over as president and CEO from Karen Lynch.

Global trading on Wall Street remained relatively quiet. Strong economic data recently has raised hopes that the US economy can safely escape the worst inflation in generations, one that ends without a painful recession that many investors had seen as all but inevitable. And with the Federal Reserve now cutting interest rates to keep the economy moving, the expectation among bulls is that stocks could rise even further.

But critics warn that share prices look too expensive given how fast corporate profits have risen.

David Lefkowitz, head of US equities at UBS Global Wealth Management, sees both sides. But while stock prices are indeed high relative to earnings, he says they’re “reasonable” when you consider the Fed’s interest rate cuts and other factors.

He also expects corporate earnings growth to continue and raised his forecast for where the S&P 500 could be in June to 6,300 from 6,200.

On Wall Street, American Express fell 2.8% despite reporting better-than-expected quarterly profit. Its revenue fell short of forecasts, and it said its full-year 2024 revenue will likely come in at the lower end of the forecast range it gave earlier this year.

The collapse of the credit card company was the main reason the Dow lagged other stock indexes.

SLB, the giant that helps companies extract oil and natural gas, fell 4.2 percent after reporting a mixed earnings report. Its profits beat analysts’ expectations, but its revenues fell short as lower crude prices pushed some international producers to be cautious about their spending. Chief executive Olivier Le Peuch said revenue grew in the Middle East and Asia, along with the North American offering, but declined in Latin America.

Oil prices fell this week as concerns eased that Israel will attack Iranian oil facilities as part of its retaliation for Iran’s missile attack earlier this month. Iran is a major crude producer and a strike could disrupt its exports to China and elsewhere. Concerns about the strength of China’s demand have also weighed on oil prices.

A barrel of Brent crude, the international standard, fell another 1.9% on Friday for a 7.5% drop on the week. It’s back to $73.06 after breaking above $80 earlier last week.

Wall Street’s winning side was Intuitive Surgical, which rose 10% after reporting stronger-than-expected last-quarter earnings. The company, whose robotics-assisted systems enable less invasive surgery, also posted better-than-expected revenue.

In the bond market, Treasury yields fell. The 10-year Treasury yield fell to 4.07% from 4.10% late Thursday.

Traders are rallying around the idea that the Federal Reserve will cut its key interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point at its next meeting in November. Expectations had been high before the Fed offered another bigger-than-usual cut of half a percentage point, but strong updates on the economy have wiped them out. The federal funds rate is currently in a range of 4.75% to 5%.

In overseas markets, Chinese indexes jumped in their latest sharp turn. Shares rose 2.9 percent in Shanghai and 3.6 percent in Hong Kong after a report showed growth slowed over the summer for the world’s second-largest economy.

The slowdown, exacerbated by a weak housing market, has raised expectations of major stimulus from China’s government and central bank, although there are still doubts about the effect they will have.

Stock indexes were mixed elsewhere in Asia and Europe.

Business writers Matt Ott and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.

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