FINANCIAL MARKETS
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 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.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 index gained 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.
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 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.
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 fell $3.68, or 3.8 percent, to a two-year low of $92.98. The stock began plunging last Friday after the company disclosed the breach, and this week it took its biggest weekly loss since tend of 1998. Rival TransUnion lost $1.47, or 3.4 percent, to $41.61 and Experian fell 0.9 percent in London.
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.
Wholesale gasoline rose 3 cents to $1.66 a gallon. Heating oil added 2 cents to $1.80 a gallon. Natural gas fell 5 cents to $3.02 per 1,000 cubic feet.