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 The three major U.S. stock indexes notched their second straight
weekly advance. Eight of the S&P 500's 10 primary sectors ended
higher, and no sector ended more than 0.1 percent lower. Trading was
light, however.
Europe, Canada, Latin America and a number of Asian markets were
closed for a holiday the day after Christmas.
"This modest growth, modest inflation environment that we've been in
looks to me like it's going to continue, and that's positive for
stocks," said Scott Wren, senior equity strategist at Wells Fargo
Advisors in St. Louis.
Oil prices slipped, pressured by a supply glut in top consumer the
United States. A Department of Energy report on Wednesday showed
crude inventories in the latest week rose to their highest December
level on record.
U.S. natural gas futures hit a more than two-year bottom below $3
after the worst week since February as disappointing weekly draws of
the fuel raised worries about growing gas in storage.
NYMEX's front-month gas hit a September 2012 low of $2.9783 per
million British thermal units before settling at $3.007, about half
a percent below the close on Wednesday. The contract had traded as
high as $4.53 per mmBtu on Nov. 26 due to colder weather then across
the United States before collapsing as temperatures turned higher.
Brent crude settled down 79 cents at $59.45 a barrel. U.S. crude
settled down $1.11 at $54.73 a barrel. Spot gold prices were up
$21.09 at $1,194.39 an ounce.
The Dow Jones industrial average closed up 0.13 percent at
18,053.71. The S&P 500 closed up 0.33 percent at 2,088.77. The
Nasdaq Composite closed up 0.7 percent at 4,806.86.
The S&P posted its 52nd record close of the year, the most since
1995, and the Dow notched its seventh straight daily gain, its
longest streak since March 2013.
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MSCI's all-country world index was last up 0.22 percent at 421.33,
boosted by the gains in U.S. shares.
In Japan, one of the few major markets open on Friday, the Nikkei
benchmark stock index closed up 0.1 percent in quiet trade.
European, Hong Kong, Australian, Canadian and Latin American stock
markets were all closed for the day.
The U.S. dollar climbed to near a 7-1/2-year peak against the yen
and close to a 2-1/2-year high versus the euro on the view that the
U.S. economy is expanding enough for the Federal Reserve to hike
interest rates in mid-2015.
The greenback hovered at nearly nine-year highs against a basket of
major currencies; the dollar index was last up or 0.06 percent at
90.022
U.S. Treasury prices recovered slightly from an early week selloff
in light trading. Benchmark 10-year yields, which move inversely to
prices, were last at 2.25 percent, from 2.26 percent late Wednesday.
(Additional reporting by Ryan Vlastelica, Jessica Resnick-Ault,
Richard Leong, and Barani Krishnan in New York, and Thomas Wilson in
Tokyo; Editing by Leslie Adler)
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