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 The S&P 500 ended above 1,900, just below a record intraday high of
1,902.17 set on May 13 and above its record closing high of 1,897.45
the same day.
Eight of the 10 S&P sector indexes ended higher for the day.
The Dow Jones Transportation Average <.DJT> rose 0.8 percent to
close at a record high, after hitting a lifetime intraday high of
7,995.39.
Housing stocks ranked among the market's biggest outperformers, with
the housing index <.HGX> up 1.9 percent.
Big tech names like Apple Inc <AAPL.O> and Amazon <AMZN.O> lifted
the Nasdaq and helped it outperform the broader market. Apple shares
ended up 1.1 percent at $614.13. Amazon shares jumped 2.4 percent to
$312.24.
Hewlett-Packard <HPQ.N> jumped 6.1 percent to $33.72. The stock was
among the S&P 500's best performers a day after the personal
computer maker said it may cut as many as 16,000 more jobs in a
major ramp-up of CEO Meg Whitman's years-long effort to turn the
company around and relieve pressure on its profit margins.
The CBOE Volatility Index, or VIX <.VIX>, fell 5.6 percent to end at
11.36, its lowest level since March 2013. Known as Wall Street's
fear index, the VIX is extremely low by historical standards.
The VIX, at those levels, shows investors' lack of anxiety and "a
certain amount of complacency," said Donald Selkin, chief market
strategist at National Securities in New York.
"The lower the VIX, the more overbought the market gets, leaving it
vulnerable to some kind of setback," Selkin said.
The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> rose 63.19 points or 0.38
percent, to 16,606.27. The S&P 500 <.SPX> gained 8.04 points or 0.42
percent, to end at 1,900.53, a record. The Nasdaq Composite <.IXIC>
added 31.47 points or 0.76 percent, to 4,185.81.
The S&P 500 posted its fifth daily advance out of the past six
sessions, and its first weekly gain out of the past three.
For the week, the Dow rose 0.7 percent, the S&P 500 jumped 1.2
percent and the Nasdaq gained 2.3 percent.
A total of 146 stocks on the Big Board and Nasdaq touched 52-week
highs, while just 26 issues hit 52-week lows. Two of the issues
hitting 52-week lows on the Nasdaq are exchange-traded securities
that track volatility.
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HOUSING, TRANSPORT STOCKS RALLY
Housing stocks rallied for a second day after data from the
Commerce Department showed sales of new U.S. single-family homes
rose more than expected in April and the supply of houses on the
market hit a 3-1/2 year high. A day ago, another report showed
existing home sales rebounded in April.
Shares of Lennar Corp <LEN.N>, the second-largest U.S. homebuilder
in terms of revenue, shot up 4 percent to $40.54. The stock of top
U.S. homebuilder D.R. Horton Inc <DHI.N> climbed 4.1 percent to
$23.57.
The Russell 2000 <.TOY> index of small-cap shares rose 1.1 percent,
outperforming the broader S&P 500. The Russell fell into correction
territory last week - defined as a 10 percent decline from a recent
closing high.
Among transportation stocks, about a quarter of the Dow Jones
Transportation Average marked fresh 52-week highs, including three
airlines - Delta <DAL.N>, Southwest <LUV.N> and Alaska Air <ALK.N> -
and two railroads - Norfolk Southern <NSC.N> and Union Pacific
<UNP.N>.
FedEx <FDX.N> shares jumped 1.6 percent to $141.50.
Bucking Friday's modest upswing was Aeropostale <ARO.N>, which slid
24.6 percent to $3.41 after the teen apparel retailer forecast a
bigger-than-expected loss for the current quarter.
Volume was light going into the Memorial Day holiday weekend, when
the U.S. stock market will be closed on Monday. About 4.6 million
shares traded on all U.S. platforms, below May's average of 5.9
million, according to BATS exchange data.
Two stocks rose for every one that fell on the New York Stock
Exchange, while gainers outnumbered decliners on the Nasdaq Stock
Market by a ratio of nearly 3 to 1.
(Reporting by Angela Moon; Editing by Jan Paschal)
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