Wall St. quietly notches another winning week

Wall Street closed out another winning week with a quiet Friday, as stocks found some stability after sliding the day before.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index edged up 1.47 points, or less than 0.1%, to 4,536.34 to cap its eighth winning week in the last 10. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 2.51 points, or less than 0.1%, to 35,227.69, its 10th gain in a row. The Nasdaq composite slipped 30.50 points, or 0.2%, to 14,032.81 a day after recording its worst loss in more than four months.

Roper Technologies rallied 3.7%, one of the larger gains in the S&P 500, after it reported better profit and revenue for the spring than analysts expected.

The earnings reporting season is gaining momentum, and a majority of companies are reporting betterthan-expected results. They’re doing so by a bit less than usual, though, according to FactSet.

On the losing side of Wall Street was American Express, which fell 3.9%. It reported stronger-than-expected profit for the spring, but its revenue fell short of forecasts.

Comerica swung from an initial gain to a loss of 4.1% after reporting stronger profit and revenue for the spring than analysts expected.

The stock market has generally been on a tear this year as the economy has defied predictions for a recession. So far, it has powered through much higher interest rates meant to bring down inf lation, and the hope is that it may outlast the Federal Reserve’s rate-hike campaign.

The Fed is widely expected to raise its federal funds rate Wednesday to its highest level since 2001. But the hope is that will be the final increase of the cycle because inflation has been cooling since last summer. The federal funds rate started last year at virtually zero.