More records as stocks rise for 7th day

NEW YORK >> U.S. stocks made the tiniest of gains Friday as media companies and sellers of beauty products and food ticked higher. Major indexes added to their winning streak and record highs.

It was the seventh gain in a row for the Standard & Poor’s 500 index and Nasdaq composite following their biggest loss this year.

The S&P 500 index added 0.75 points to 2,415.82. The Dow Jones industrial average dipped 2.67 points to 21,080.28. The Nasdaq composite rose 4.94 points, or 0.1 percent, to 6,210.19. The Russell 2000 index of small-company stocks fell 1.14 points, or 0.1 percent, to 1,382.24.

Ulta Beauty gained $9.36, or 3.1 percent, to $302.40. Costco Wholesale rose $3.13, or 1.8 percent, to $177.86 after the warehouse club had a strong quarter as sales and member payments both increased.

Uggs maker Deckers Outdoor turned in earnings that were stronger than expected, and its stock gained $10.64, or 18.8 percent, to $67.21. GameStop gave up $1.40, or 5.9 percent, to $22.22. Video game publishers also fell. Activision Blizzard lost 94 cents, or 1.6 percent, to $58.28 and Electronic Arts slid $1.70, or 1.5 percent, to $112.13. TakeTwo Interactive Software shed $1.46, or 1.9 percent, to $77.07.

The VIX, an index that is called Wall Street’s “fear gauge” because it measures how much volatility investors expect, fell for the seventh day in a row. After a huge spike last Wednesday, the 27-year-old index is trading near all-time lows. It sank to 9.81 Friday. The only time it was lower was late December 1993.

The Commerce Department said the U.S. economy grew 1.2 percent in the first quarter, which was still weak but better than it originally estimated.

Crude oil prices bounced back from a sharp drop the day before. Benchmark U.S. crude rose 90 cents, or 1.8 percent, to $49.80 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, the international standard, added 69 cents, or 1.3 percent, to $52.15 a barrel in London. In other energy trading, wholesale gasoline added 3 cents to $1.64 a gallon. Heating oil gained 1 cent to $1.56 a gallon. Natural gas rose 5 cents to $3.24 per 1,000 cubic feet.

The dollar sank to 111.19 yen from 111.80 yen. The euro fell to $1.1176 from $1.1205.

As the dollar weakened, gold rose $11.70 to $1,268.10 an ounce and silver gained 13 cents to $17.32 an ounce. Copper fell 3 cents to $2.57 a pound.

Bond prices were little changed. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note held steady at 2.25 percent.

Germany’s DAX lost 0.2 percent and the FTSE 100 in Britain rose 0.4 percent. The French CAC 40 fell by a fraction of a percentage point. Japan’s Nikkei 225 index shed 0.6 percent but the South Korean Kospi climbed 0.5 percent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was nearly unchanged.