U.S. stock benchmarks carved out another round of records on Friday, with a big assist from rallying telecommunication and bank shares, as Wall Street shook off North Korea’s latest missile launch.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 64.86 points, to 0.3%, to close at 22,268.34, logging its fourth straight record close and its sixth consecutive day of gains. For the week, the blue-chip gauge booked a gain of 2.2%, marking its best weekly advance since the week ended Dec. 9, according to FactSet data.
The S&P 500 ended 4.61 points higher, a gain of 0.2%, at 2,500.23, on the back of a 0.4% rise in financials, and a 1.8% gain in telecommunications, which is the smallest of the broad-market benchmark’s 11 sectors.
The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 19.38 points, or 0.3%, to close at a record 6,448.47. The Nasdaq registered a weekly advance of 1.4%.
Stocks initially struggled for direction as investors weighed North Korea’s decision to fire a missile over Japan for the second time in a month, but soon found firmer footing.
“Investors have been programmed to more or less ignore stuff with Korea. The last two or three times this kind of thing occurred we went down a little, only to turn back higher. We’ve learned to buy on the dips,” said Terry Morris, senior vice president and senior equity manager for National Penn Investors Trust Company.
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