Record close for US stocks

Dow extends gains for fifth week in a row

U.S. stocks closed at a record on Friday, 09 December 2016 with the S&P 500 notching its best winning streak since June 2014 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average extending gains for a fifth week. All three major indexes touched intraday highs during the session with the S&P 500 and the Dow up 3.1% and the Nasdaq rallying 3.6% on the week.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 142.04 points, or 0.7%, to close at record 19,756.85 while the Nasdaq Composite Index rose 27.14 points, or 0.5, to close at a high of 5,444.50. The S&P 500 index added 13.34 points, or 0.6%, to end at a historic high of 2,259.53.

Investors focused on sectors that have lagged behind the broader market rally, driving health-care stocks higher.

Overall, the Friday affair was fairly quiet, allowing the market to continue respecting post-election trends. Equity indices climbed off their opening levels thanks to strength in sectors like health care, consumer staples and technology. The three influential groups provided an early boost while most of the remaining sectors saw inflows as the day went on. The relentless push higher invited another extension of gains during the final hour.

Financial markets are anxiously awaiting the details of that December 13-14 meeting. It is the pacing of the reversal of easy monetary policy next year that's captured the markets' attention lately.

On Friday, the ICE U.S. Dollar Index which gauges the buck's strength against six other currencies, climbed 0.5%, trading about 1% higher for the week. Strength in the buck can undercut demand for commodities, including gold, making them less attractive for holders of other currencies, and higher interest rates tend to lift the dollar and increase demand for higher-yielding alternatives to nonyielding gold.

With the Fed meeting looming, the dollar-positive monetary policy gap between the U.S. and other economic powerhouses becomes more obvious. The European Central Bank on Thursday announced it will extend its quantitative-easing program until December 2017 and possibly beyond that, which sent the euro lower against the dollar. The central bank, however, will reduce its bond-buying firepower after March. The bank did hold pat on interest rates, as expected.

Economic data at Wall Street included Wholesale Inventories and Michigan Sentiment. Wholesale inventories decreased 0.4% month-over-month in October, as expected, following an unrevised 0.1% decline in September. Wholesale sales were up 1.4% on the heels of an upwardly revised 0.4% increase in September. Separately, the preliminary reading for the University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index for December checked in at 98.0 (consensus 94.3), up from the final November reading of 93.8.

Bullion prices ended lower at Comex on Friday, 09 December 2016. Gold futures finish Friday at their lowest levels since February, marking their fifth weekly loss in a row, as the dollar firmed in anticipation of an interest rate hike at next week's Federal Reserve meeting.

Gold for February delivery declined by $10.50, or 0.9%, to settle at $1,161.90 an ounce. Prices marked their lowest finish since early February, and lost roughly 1.1% for the week. That was longest stretch of consecutive weekly losses this year. March silver ended at $16.967 an ounce, down 12.9 cents, or 0.8%. Prices had a strong midweek advance, leaving them up roughly 1.3% for the week.

Oil futures finished higher on Friday, 09 December 2016 for a second consecutive session with some of the world's biggest crude producers expected to hold a meeting this weekend to fine-tune last month's agreement to curb production. Prices for the week, however, logged a modest loss as some doubts of full cooperation with the pact lingered.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil for January delivery tacked on 66 cents, or 1.3%, to settle at $51.50 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, adding to a 2.2% gain from Thursday. For the week, prices ended about 0.4% lower after a more than 12% jump last week. February Brent crude gained 44 cents, or 0.8%, to $54.33 on the ICE Futures exchange in London. It was just over 0.2% lower for the week.

Investor participation was below average as fewer than 900 million shares changed hands at the NYSE floor.

Monday's economic data will be limited to the November Treasury Budget statement, which will be released at 14:00 ET.

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