In a 1st, S&P 500 closes above 2,500

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.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 4.61 points, or 0.2 percent, to a record 2,500.23. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 64.86 points, or 0.3 percent, to 22,268.34, its fourth record close in a row. The Nasdaq composite added 19.38 points, or 0.3 percent, to 6,448.47. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks picked up 6.69 points, or 0.5 percent, to 1,431.71.

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 Apple and Boeing took the market higher. Stocks made big gains Monday and 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 sending the price of clothes, food, travel and phone plans lower. The lower prices reduce measurements of sales revenue like the one the government released Friday, but Rieder said they keep people buying.

“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.”

Industrial production in the U.S. fell 0.9 percent in August, the biggest drop in eight years, as Harvey knocked numerous oil refining, plastics and chemicals factories out of business for a time. Many of those factories are based in the Gulf Coast region that Harvey hit. The Federal Reserve said the weather and flooding was responsible for almost all of the loss.

Apple shares rose $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 harddrive maker Western Digital gained $2.73, or 3.2 percent, to $88.52.

Shares of credit monitoring companies continued to fall as Senate Democrats introduced a bill that would prevent the companies from charging fees to consumers who want their credit frozen. In many states, the companies collect fees in return for freezing accounts.

Some consumers have chosen to freeze their credit after Equifax said the personal information of 143 million Americans was exposed after a breach of its systems. Those consumers are trying to prevent identity thieves from using their information to open fraudulent accounts.

Equifax shares fell $3.68, or 3.8 percent, to a two-year low of $92.98. The stock price began falling last Friday after the company disclosed the breach, and this week it took its biggest weekly loss since the end of 1998.

Bond prices dipped. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 2.20 percent from 2.19 percent. Interest rates also rose, which helped banks, as they stand to make more money from lending.

U.S. crude oil finished unchanged at $49.89 a barrel in New York. It’s at its highest price since the end of July. Brent crude, the standard for international oil prices, gained 15 cents to $55.62 a barrel in London.