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U.S. stocks cap fifth straight positive week, its best streak since 2014

Published 03/18/2016, 04:24 PM
Updated 03/18/2016, 04:50 PM
The Dow, NASDAQ and S&P all moved higher on Friday

The Dow, NASDAQ and S&P all moved higher on Friday

Investing.com -- U.S. stocks closed broadly higher on Friday completing their fifth straight positive week, as the major indices continued to rebound from a historic downturn at the start of the year.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 120.81 or 0.69% to 17,602.30, surging to 2016-yearly highs for the second consecutive session. With the gains, the Dow closed higher for the sixth straight session. The NASDAQ Composite index added 20.66 or 0.43% to 4,795.65, amid gains in pharmaceutical and media stocks, while the S&P 500 Composite index ticked up 0.99 or 0.44% to 2,049.58.

For the session, seven of 10 sectors closed in the green, as stocks in the Health Care, Industrials and Financials industries led. The S&P 500, which is up by approximately 10% from its lows in early-February, moved into positive territory for the year.

More than two years have elapsed since U.S. equity markets have posted a weekly winning streak as lengthy as its current rally. It also marked the first time the major indices have finished with five straight weeks of at least 1% gains since the start of the bull market in March, 2009.

Investors continued to react to a surprisingly dovish outlook from the Federal Reserve earlier this week when the U.S. central bank cut its interest rate forecast through 2018. Any rate hikes by the Fed this year are viewed as bearish for equities, as investors pile into less risky bonds and U.S. Treasuries to capitalize on higher yields.

Meanwhile, the expiration of four major asset classes in what is commonly referred to as a "quadruple witching hour," had little impact on stock prices on Friday. Quadruple witching hours, which occur on the third Friday of March, June, September and December, involve the expiration of market index futures, stock index futures, stock options and market options, usually resulting in increased volatility.

The top performer on the Dow was Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS), which gained 4.69 or 3.07% to 157.60. Goldman Sachs finished just ahead of JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM), which added 1.73 or 2.94% to 60.48. On Thursday after the bell, JP Morgan's board authorized a $1.88 billion stock buyback program through the end of the second quarter. The authorization comes on the heels of a $6.4 billion repurchase initiative last year. The worst performer Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), which fell 1.17 or 2.19% to 53.49, retreating in Friday's session after releasing a preview for its new Windows 10 platform a session earlier.

The biggest gainer on the NASDAQ was Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC), which added 3.02 or 6.57% to 49.02 in the wake of its $17.2 billion merger with SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ:SNDK) earlier in the week. On Friday, Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) offered $1.5 billion in senior secured notes and another $4.1 billion in senior unsecured notes to help finance the merger. Microsoft was also the worst performer on the NASDAQ, just below TripAdvisor Inc (NASDAQ:TRIP), which fell 1.00 or 1.53% to 64.31. Shares in the Needham, Massachusetts-based travel website have crashed more than 5% over the last two sessions.

Western Digital was also the top performer on the S&P 500, just ahead of Wynn Resorts Limited (NASDAQ:WYNN), which gained 5.22 or 5.88% to 94.02. Shares in the multinational casino and resort surged to eight-month highs on Friday after its fledgling Macau division received an upgrade from analysts at Macquarie. The worst performer was Transocean which fell 0.93 or 7.94% to 10.78. Shares in the one of the world's largest offshore driller are down more than 20% over the last year.

On the New York Stock Exchange, advancing issues outnumbered declining ones by a 1,896-1,198 margin.

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