S&P 500 tops 2,500 mark as tech and bank stocks climb

Associated Press

NEW YORK

U.S. stocks edged higher Friday as technology companies and banks rose. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index closed above 2,500 for the first time as stocks had one of their best weeks this year.

Stocks wobbled in early trading after the Commerce Department said retail sales slipped in August and the Federal Reserve said industrial production dropped last month, mostly because of Hurricane Harvey. But big names like Apple and Boeing took the market higher. Stocks made big gains Monday as Hurricane Irma weakened, and they didn’t do too much after that, but still wound up with their biggest weekly gain since the beginning of January.

Rick Rieder, the chief investment officer for BlackRock’s global fixed income business, said retail sales and inflation have been weak because technological changes keep reducing the prices of clothes, food, travel and phone plans. That lowers measurements of sales revenue, such as the one the government released Friday, but Rieder said they keep people buying – even though the same technological changes can also lower people’s wages.

“We get everything cheaper than we used to because of the internet and delivery mechanisms,” he said. “The price is coming down so quickly that it’s helping demand.”

Apple picked up $1.60, or 1 percent, to $159.88 after three days of declines. Chipmaker Nvidia jumped $10.71, or 6.3 percent, to $180.11 and hard drive maker Western Digital gained $2.73, or 3.2 percent, to $88.52.

However shares of software maker Oracle absorbed their biggest loss in four years. The company’s first-quarter profit and sales were better than investors expected, but analysts were concerned about forecasts for its cloud computing business. Oracle lost $4.05, or 7.7 percent, to $48.74.

Boeing rose $3.77, or 1.5 percent, to $249 as the aerospace company continued to set record highs. Its stock is up 60 percent in 2017.

U.K. stocks did not appear to be affected by a bomb attack on a London subway train. Police said an improvised explosive device hurt more than 20 people, but none of the injuries appeared to be life-threatening.