Wall Street ends higher despite government shutdown threat

NEW YORK — Wall Street rose on Friday, led by gains in consumer stocks, even as a possible government shutdown loomed then.

The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq hit record closing highs, while the Dow ended the day higher after trading in a narrow range.

Nike, Inc., Philip Morris International, Inc. and Home Depot, Inc. rose between 1.5% and 4.8% on upbeat analyst expectations, helping to boost the S& P 500. Conversely, losses in International Business Machines Corp. ( IBM) and American Express capped gains on the Dow.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 53.91 points, or 0.21%, to close at 26,071.72; the S&P 500 gained 12.27 points, or 0.44%, to 2,810.3; and the Nasdaq Composite added 40.33 points, or 0.55%, to 7,336.38.

For the week, the Dow rose 1.04%, the S&P 500 added 0.86% and the Nasdaq gained 1.04%.

Nine of the 11 major S&P sectors were higher, led by a 1.1% gain in the consumer staples index and a 0.90% rise in consumer discretionary stocks.

A disappointing full- year profit forecast from IBM pushed its shares down 4%, the biggest single-day loss since July.

American Express slipped 1.8% after posting its first quarterly loss in 26 years and suspending share buybacks for the next six months.

“The market has a few jitters as the result of a potential shutdown,” said Kevin Miller, chief executive of E-Valuator Funds. “From a longer- term perspective, corporate earnings are still strong, and we’re about to engage in the benefits of tax reform.”

The US government shut down at midnight on Friday after Democrats and Republicans, locked in a bitter dispute over immigration and border security, failed to agree on a last-minute deal to fund its operations.

Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by 1.98 to one; on Nasdaq, a 2.51-to-one ratio favored advancers. The S&P 500 posted 105 new 52-week highs and nine new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 171 new highs and 30 new lows. Volume on US exchanges was 6.82 billion shares, compared to the 6.32 billion average over the last 20 trading days. —