NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Stocks posted gains Friday to finish their best month this year, as investors got a confidence boost from strong earnings out of Caterpillar."The market feels a little on the high side, but these good earnings figures are keeping stocks slowly moving higher," said Frank Davis, director of sales and trading at LEK Securities.
The Dow Jones industrial average (INDU) rose 47 points, 0.4%, to finish at 12,811, closing at a fresh multi-year high.
The S&P 500 (SPX) closed up 3 points, or 0.2%, to end at 1,365. The index finished the week up 2% and the month with a gain of 3.3%. The Nasdaq Composite (COMP) rose 1 point, or less than 0.1%, to 2,874, closing up 1.9% for the week and adding 4.2% in April.
Investors remain nervous about the economy and inflation. The Fed has been pretty clear that interest rates aren't likely to budge this year. Meanwhile, gold and silver continue to hit new highs as the U.S. dollar keeps sliding, falling to a three-year low against the euro.
Despite the nervousness, April was the best month for the three indexes since December.
On Thursday, U.S. stocks rose to multi-year highs, as investors looked beyond a series of mixed earnings reports and disappointing GDP and jobless claims reports.
The dollar fell against the euro, the Japanese yen and the British pound.
Oil for June delivery closed up 84 cents at $113.71 a barrel.
Gold futures for June delivery settled at a new record high of $1,569.80 an ounce.
Gold prices are benefiting from weakness in the dollar, said David Wyss, chief economist for Standard & Poor's.
1 comment:
Thanks a bunch for sharing this with all of us you really know what you are speaking approximately!
Bookmarked. Please additionally discuss with my website =).
We will have a hyperlink change contract between us
Here is my blog post ; GFI Norte
Post a Comment