FINANCIAL MARKETS

Wall Street capped a week with no shortage of milestones with a few more Friday.

U.S. stocks closed modestly higher, lifting the Standard & Poor’s 500 index to its fifth record close in a row. The Dow Jones industrial average, which crossed past the 23,000 mark for the first time on Wednesday, also finished the day with its fifth-straight all-time high.

Banks led the gainers Friday. Technology companies also posted big gains, helping to drive the Nasdaq composite to a record high. The latest milestones came as investors drew encouragement from the Senate’s passage of a budget bill that is expected to ease the path for the White House’s tax cut proposal.

The S&P 500 index rose 13.11 points, or 0.5 percent, to 2,575.21. The Dow gained 165.59 points, or 0.7 percent, to 23,328.63. The Nasdaq composite added 23.99 points, or 0.4 percent, to 6,629.05. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks picked up 7.20 points, or 0.5 percent, to 1,509.25. The S&P 500 and the Dow are now on a six-week winning streak. President Donald Trump’s plans to slash corporate taxes and make other business-friendly changes to the nation’s tax laws have helped lift U.S. stocks in recent weeks. Under the administration’s tax plan, the first major overhaul of the tax code in three decades, corporations would see their top tax rate cut from 35 percent to 20 percent. On Thursday, the Senate narrowly passed a $4 trillion budget resolution that now goes to the House of Representatives. The bill sets the stage for tax legislation later this year that could pass through the Senate without the threat of a filibuster by Democrats. It also adds $1.5 trillion to the deficit over the next 10 years.

Should tax reform pass, it’s also a good bet that interest rates will move higher, which will benefit banks and other financial companies. That’s one reason banks and bond yields rose Friday.

Higher bond yields allow banks to charge higher interest rates on mortgages and other loans. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 2.38 percent from 2.32 percent late Thursday.

Oil prices closed higher after wavering between small gains and losses for much of the day. Benchmark U.S. crude added 18 cents to settle at $51.47 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude, used to price international oils, gained 52 cents to $57.75 a barrel in London.

The gains helped lift most of the energy companies in the S&P 500. Helmerich & Payne climbed $1.06, or 2.1 percent, to $52.

In other energy trading, wholesale gasoline rose 3 cents to $1.68 a gallon. Heating oil picked up 3 cents to $1.81 a gallon. Natural gas gained 4 cents to $2.92 per 1,000 cubic feet.