Stocks soar to new heights for second day

Wall Street capped a week of milestones Friday with a rally that pushed the major stock indexes to all-time highs for the second day in a row.

Small-company stocks did better than larger ones, nudging the Russell 2000 index to a record high for the first time since December.

Mining and other raw materials companies led the gainers.

Rising crude oil prices also gave energy companies a big boost.

Consumer goods stocks were essentially flat.

Strong company earnings and investor optimism over the Trump administration’s promises of tax cuts, less government regulation and other policies helped fuel the market’s gains much of the week.

News that OPEC is adhering to a recent pact to cut crude oil production has also helped lift markets.

The daily market moves have been mostly small, but big enough to push indexes to new heights.

“We had a drought for a very, very long time last year where we went almost a year and a half without hitting a new high, which was the longest time ever,” said Randy Frederick, vice president of trading and derivatives at Charles Schwab.

“Now we’re back to what I would say is more of a typical move, where you get record highs consistently.”

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 96.97 points, or 0.5 percent, to 20,269.37. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index gained 8.23 points, or 0.4 percent, to 2,316.10. The Nasdaq composite index added 18.95 points, or 0.3 percent, to 5,734.13.

The Nasdaq closed at a record high four times this week.

The Russell 2000 picked up 10.32 points, or 0.8 percent, to 1,388.84.

Trading got off to a good start early Friday, as investors sized up the latest batch of company earnings.

Some 70 percent of the companies in the S&P 500 have reported quarterly results as of Friday. About 40 percent of those turned in earnings and revenue that beat Wall Street’s forecasts, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence.

Earnings are on track to mark the second-consecutive quarter of growth after a five-quarter losing streak.

Beyond earnings, investors are also eyeing Washington, D.C., for signs the Trump administration will deliver on the promised business-friendly policy proposals that helped drive a market rally last fall, including slashing government regulations and taxes.

“The market has been pretty generous ever since the election in moving in anticipation of what might come,” Frederick said. “The question is at what point does the market expect to see things actually happen versus just promises of action. That’s the tricky part.”

Benchmark U.S. crude rose 86 cents, or 1.6 percent, to close at $53.86 a barrel in New York.

The price of gold fell 70 cents to $1,234.40 an ounce.

Major stock indexes in Europe closed mostly higher.

Greece’s stock market gained 2.5 percent as its creditors met to find a way to ease concerns about its bailout program.

“The market has been pretty generous ever since the election.” Randy Frederick, vice president of trading and derivatives at Charles Schwab

AP/FILE Mining and raw materials companies led the gainers Friday as small company stocks did better than large ones.