Dow, S&P reach new heights
May finishes up with best gains in months
NEW YORK – The stock market closed out May mostly higher Friday, sending two of the three major U.S. indexes to record highs.
Trading was uneven, and indexes moved between small gains and losses for most of the day. A late push higher left the Dow Jones industrial average and Standard & Poor’s 500 at all-time highs, but just barely.
May was the best month for investors since February. The S&P rose 2.1 percent for the month, while the Dow rose 0.8 percent and the Nasdaq rose 3.1 percent.
“This market may have been choppy earlier in the year, but the trend is higher,” said Karyn Cavanaugh, a market strategist with Voya Investment Management.
The Dow rose 18.43 points, or 0.1 percent, to close at 16,717.17, less than two points above its previous record high set on May 13.
The S&P 500 index rose 3.54 points, or 0.2 percent, to 1,923.57, also closing at a record. The Nasdaq composite ended down 5.33 points, or 0.1 percent, at 4,242.62.
Key economic data comes out next week, including the May jobs report on Friday. Economists expect the U.S. economy created 220,000 jobs in May, and the unemployment rate fell to 6.3 percent, according to FactSet, a financial information provider.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury note was little changed at 2.47 percent. Bond yields are near their lows for the year thanks to strong demand.
“If we were in a normal bond market, these yields would signal weakness in the U.S. economy,” said Randy Frederick, managing director of trading and derivatives at Charles Schwab. “But I think what’s going on is more of a temporary phenomenon.”