Best week tallied since early March
U.S. stock indexes ended mostly higher Friday as the market closed out its biggest weekly gain since March.
Drugmakers and other healthcare companies climbed after investors sized up President Trump’s latest plans to rein in drug prices and concluded that any policy changes didn’t pose immediate threats to healthcare company profits.
“All of this will have to go through a year-plus regulatory process, and none of it will have immediate impact,” Terry Haines, macro research analyst at Evercore ISI, wrote in a research note.
The health sector’s gains outweighed losses by technology stocks, phone companies and banks. Symantec plunged, losing one-third of its value.
All told, the Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 4.65 points, or 0.2%, to 2,727.72. For the week, the index rose 2.4%, its best weekly gain since early March.
The Dow Jones industrial average climbed 91.64 points, or 0.4%, to 24,831.17 on Friday. The Nasdaq composite edged down 2.09 points, or 0.03%, to 7,402.88. The Russell 2000 index rose 3.08 points, or 0.2%, to 1,606.79.
After Trump began discussing his drug-prices plan Friday, healthcare stocks mostly rose. Regeneron Pharmaceuticals jumped 6.2% to $306.94. CVS Health climbed 3.2% to $64.41. Biogen advanced 3.1% to $282.39.
Tech stocks — which are up 10.8% this year, outgaining all other sectors in the S&P 500 — were among the biggest decliners Friday.
Symantec slumped 33.1% to $19.52 after the security software company revealed an internal investigation that could delay its annual report and said the matter has been referred to the Securities and Exchange Commission. Symantec also gave weak profit forecasts.
Nvidia reported solid quarterly results, but the chipmaker’s stock shed some of its recent gains, sliding 2.2% to $254.53.
Meanwhile, Trade Desk vaulted 43.4% to $75.61 after the digital advertising platform company raised its annual forecasts after a strong first quarter.
Yelp fell 7.8% to $44.02 after the online review portal gave a disappointing outlook for its current quarter.
Overall, corporate earnings have been a source of good news for investors. About 90% of the companies in the S&P 500 have reported results so far this earnings season, and some 62% of those have delivered both earnings and revenue that beat analyst expectations, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence.
Benchmark U.S. crude oil fell 66 cents to $70.70 a barrel. Brent crude fell 35 cents to $77.12. Heating oil was little changed at $2.22 a gallon. Wholesale gasoline also held steady at $2.19 a gallon. Natural gas slipped a penny to $2.80 per 1,000 cubic feet.
Bond prices fell. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 2.97% from 2.96%.
The dollar fell to 109.30 yen from 109.37 yen. The euro rose to $1.1945 from $1.1927.
Gold fell $1.60 to $1,320.70 an ounce. Silver fell 1 cent to $16.75 an ounce. Copper was flat at $3.11 a pound.