US STOCKS-S&P 500 posts 5th week of gains as Wall St hits records

Published 08/11/2019, 22:43
Updated 08/11/2019, 22:46
© Reuters.  US STOCKS-S&P 500 posts 5th week of gains as Wall St hits records

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* Trump says he has not agreed to roll back tariffs

* Disney rises, helps support S&P 500

* Gap Inc falls after surprise CEO exit

* Indexes rise: Dow 0.02%, S&P 500 0.3%, Nasdaq 0.5%

(Updates to close)

By Caroline Valetkevitch

NEW YORK, Nov 8 (Reuters) - The three major U.S. stock

indexes posted record closing highs and the S&P 500 registered a

fifth straight week of gains on Friday as investors brushed

aside worries over the progress of U.S.-China trade talks and as

Walt Disney shares rose.

Doubts about trade progress resurfaced earlier in the day

when President Donald Trump, in remarks to reporters at the

White House, said he has not agreed to a rollback of U.S.

tariffs sought by China.

On Thursday, officials from both countries said that the

United States and China had agreed to such a deal. Tim Ghriskey, chief investment strategist at Inverness

Counsel in New York, said that while the market was initially

volatile because of Trump's remarks, it climbed right back.

"The feeling now is that before the end of the year we're

going to see some type of deal," Ghriskey said, even if it is a

partial one.

The Cboe volatility index .VIX posted its lowest closing

level since July 24.

Helping to boost the S&P 500, Walt Disney Co DIS.N gained

3.8% a day after it reported quarterly results that showed it

spent less than it had projected on its online streaming

service, Disney+. Disney's popular theme parks and a remake of

"The Lion King" lifted earnings. The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 6.44 points, or

0.02%, to 27,681.24, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 7.9 points, or

0.26%, to 3,093.08 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added 40.80

points, or 0.48%, to 8,475.31.

For the week, the S&P 500 rose 0.8%, posting a fifth

straight week of gains, while the Nasdaq gained 1.1%, closing

out its sixth straight week of gains. The Dow was up 1.2% for

the week.

Increasing optimism on the trade front and mostly

better-than-expected earnings have driven the recent record run

in stocks. Of the 446 S&P 500 companies that have reported

results so far, roughly three-quarters have beaten profit

estimates, according to IBES data from Refinitiv. The numbers,

to some extent, reflect significantly lowered analysts'

forecasts.

Technology shares also supported the market, including

Microsoft MSFT.O , which rose 1.2%.

Among decliners on Friday, shares of Gap Inc GPS.N fell

7.6% after the apparel retailer said Chief Executive Officer Art

Peck would leave the company, a surprise exit in the middle of a

restructuring. Gap also slashed its full-year earnings forecast.

Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a

1.07-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.13-to-1 ratio favored advancers.

The S&P 500 posted 29 new 52-week highs and two new lows;

the Nasdaq Composite recorded 74 new highs and 87 new lows.

Volume on U.S. exchanges was 6.59 billion shares, compared

with the 6.79 billion-share average for the full session over

the last 20 trading days.

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