NEW YORK - US stocks ended higher, helped by a jump in energy and mining companies' shares as oil and metals prices soared to record highs, while an index of consumer confidence rose for the first time this year.
Stock investors jumped on the commodities bandwagon, snapping up Exxon Mobil
Corp. and rival oil company ConocoPhillips, which helped push the broad S&P 500 into positive territory for the year, and Caterpillar Inc., which gave the biggest lift to the blue-chip Dow.
Exxon Mobil, the world's biggest publicly traded oil company, rose 1.3 per cent to US$60.89 and ConocoPhillips gained 3.6 per cent to US$60.68, after US oil futures hit a fresh intraday record at US$58.60 a barrel.
Caterpillar rose almost 2 per cent to US$100.20, as the heavy equipment maker benefited from the boom in mining and metals prices. Copper futures hit a record in London and repeatedly set 16-year highs in New York.
"Oil up a buck-and-a-half is helping the energy stocks," said Peter Boockvar, equity strategist at Miller Tabak & Co., in an interview before the oil futures trading session ended.
The Dow Jones industrial average ended up 44.42 points, or 0.42 per cent, at 10,623.07. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index closed higher by 6.00 points, or 0.50 per cent, at 1,216.96. The technology-laced Nasdaq Composite Index edged up a mere 0.96 of a point, or 0.05 per cent, to finish at 2,090.11.
For the week, the Dow was up 1.05 per cent, the S&P 500 rose 1.57 per cent and the Nasdaq climbed 1.31 per cent.
Only the S&P 500 is up for the year, with a slim gain of 0.42 per cent, while the Dow is down 1.48 per cent, and the Nasdaq is down 3.92 per cent.
"The consumer has a bit more confidence and is out there spending money," said Joseph Battipaglia, chief investment officer for brokerage and research firm Ryan, Beck & Co.
On Friday morning, Wall Street got good news when the University of Michigan's early reading on consumer confidence for June rose to 94.8 for its first gain this year, market sources said, well ahead of May's reading of 86.9 and higher than analysts had expected.
"The only impediment that's still up there is, of course, the price of oil," Battipaglia said.
While high oil prices are generally negative for stocks -- and indeed trimmed the market's gains in afternoon trading -- they help energy companies' profits.
Oil prices set a new record of US$58.60 a barrel during the NYMEX session after the United States and other Western nations shut consulates in oil-producing Nigeria following a terrorist threat.
US crude for July delivery settled at a record US$58.47, up US$1.89.
Alcoa Inc., the world's largest aluminum producer and another Dow component, rose 1.2 per cent, or 32 cents, to US$28.25 as aluminum prices stayed at lofty levels.
On the Nasdaq, Millennium Pharmaceuticals Inc. jumped nearly 14 per cent, or US$1.14, to US$9.40 against a backdrop of speculation that the company could be a takeover candidate, analysts said.
On Thursday, Millennium said the New England Journal of Medicine published positive reports on two of its products, an oncology drug, Velcade, and MLN02, an investigative treatment for inflammatory bowel diseases.
Home builders' shares also gained. Smith Barney raised its ratings on six home builders, including KB Home, which posted a 78 per cent rise in quarterly earnings on Thursday.
KB rose 6.9 per cent, or US$5, to US$77.25 and Pulte Homes Inc. gained 4.6 per cent, or US$3.75, to US$86.
The NYSE's top percentage gainer was CRT Properties, up 16 per cent at US$27.94, after real estate fund DRA Advisors said it would buy CRT Properties for US$27.80 a share, a 15.4 per cent premium above CRT's closing stock price on Thursday.
Among decliners, Adobe Systems Inc. weighed on the Nasdaq, sliding 3.3 per cent, or US$1.07, to US$31.34, a day after the company provided an outlook that was not as aggressive as investors had hoped.
Stock markets shrugged off news that the US current account deficit -- the broadest measure of US trade with the rest of the world -- hit a record US$195.1 billion in the first quarter.
The deficit ran at a record 6.4 per cent of gross domestic product, considered by many economists to be unsustainable.
"While economists will wring their hands, the real world is shrugging its shoulders," Battipaglia said. "Americans are very happy with low-cost goods. They don't appear to feel there are any adverse consequences from it, since interest rates are not rising and the dollar is not falling." Volume was high as Friday marked quadruple witching -- the quarterly expiration of four different types of June futures and options contracts. Expiration can lead to greater volume and volatility as investors adjust or exercise their derivative positions.
The New York Stock Exchange said first-hour volume reached an all-time high of 704,370,000 shares.
By the close, about 1.93 billion shares had been traded on the New York Stock Exchange, well above the 1.46 billion daily average for last year.
On Nasdaq, about about 2.10 billion shares were traded, above the 1.81 billion daily average last year.
Advancers outnumbered decliners on the New York Stock Exchange by about 5 to 3.
But on Nasdaq, decliners edged out advancers by about 16 to 15.
- REUTERS
NEW YORK - US stocks ended higher, helped by a jump in energy and mining companies' shares as oil and metals prices soared to record highs, while an index of consumer confidence rose for the first time this year.
Stock investors jumped on the commodities bandwagon, snapping up Exxon Mobil
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