Wall Street hits record high, S&P 500 pierces 2,500

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Wall Street experienced record highs on Friday, with the S&P 500 surpassing 2,500 points as telecommunications shares rose and technology bounced back after two days of declines.

The S&P 500’s breach of the 2,500-mark came less than four months after it closed above 2,400, and bought 2017’s gain to nearly 12 percent.

Professional investors frequently say they see little special significance in the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average hitting round-numbers in the hundreds and thousands. But such milestones do affect the sentiment of investors on Main Street, said Phil Blancato, head of Ladenburg Thalmann Asset Management in New York.

Reuters Photo

“People are concerned about missing out as the market continues to rally. They think maybe they need to finally jump in,” Blancato said.

The S&P 500 information technology sector SPLRCT rose 0.30 percent, powered by a Nvidia-led surge in chipmakers, while Apple rose 1.01 percent in its first gain since unveiling new iPhones on Tuesday.

Wall Street largely shrugged off reports showing an unexpected drop in US retail sales last month and the first drop in industrial output since January, both in part due to the impact of Hurricane Harvey.

Reuters Photo

“Investors are keeping an eye on the retail sales data, thinking it may be transitory and are focusing on growth areas such as technology, which is mostly immune to policy decisions in Washington and has avoided all the global noise,” said Michael Antonelli, managing director of institutional sales trading at Robert W. Baird in Milwaukee.

US stocks have surged this year, despite turmoil in the White House, doubts about US President Donald Trump’s ability to push through his pro-business reforms, uncertainty over the timing of interest rate hikes, and lately, tensions over Pyongyang’s missile tests.

Reuters Photo

The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJI rose 0.29 percent to end at 22,268.34 points, while the S&P 500 SPX gained 0.18 percent to 2,500.23, records for both. The Nasdaq Composite IXIC added 0.3 percent to 6,448.47.

Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a 1.76-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.47-to-1 ratio favored advancers.

The S&P 500 is trading near 17.6 times expected earnings, down from 17.9 at the end of July but still much higher than its 10-year average of 14.3, according to Thomson Reuters Datastream.

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Source(s): AP ,Reuters