Stocks Rise As S&P 500 Closes At New All-Time High

After a big rally on Thursday, the stock market added to its recent gains on Friday.

Although the Dow barely finished in positive territory, both the S&P and Nasdaq recorded solid advances. Next week, investors will be focusing on corporate earnings.

On Friday, both Wells Fargo (WFC) and JPMorgan (JPM) released their quarterly results and hundreds of other prominent companies will be reporting in the coming weeks.

The market appears to be on solid footing heading into earnings season as investor concern over Fed tightening has subsided after comments made by Chairman Ben Bernanke on Wednesday. The S&P 500 recorded a very solid trading week, with the index gaining nearly 3 percent over the last 5 trading sessions and closing at a new all-time high on Friday.

Major Averages
The Dow Jones Industrial Average added a little more than 3 points, or 0.02 percent, to close at 15,464.

The S&P 500 rose 5 points, or 0.31 percent, to 1,680.

The Nasdaq climbed 22 points, or 0.61 percent, to 3,600.

PPI
Producer prices recorded their largest rise since September 2012 in June on the back of rising energy costs. PPI rose 0.8 percent for the month compared to a gain of 0.5 percent for May. This was well above consensus estimates calling for an increase of 0.3 percent.

On a core basis, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, PPI rose 0.2 percent in June after increasing 0.1 percent for May. The consensus expected prices to rise by 0.1 percent.

University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment
The preliminary reading of the University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index came in at 83.9 for July compared to 84.1 in June. This compared to consensus estimates calling for the index to increase to 85.0.

Commodities
Crude oil continued its recent rally on Friday. At last check, NYMEX crude futures rose 1.20 percent to $106.17. Brent crude contracts climbed 1.24 percent to $109.07. Natural gas added 0.80 percent on the day to $3.64.

Precious metals were mixed on the session with gold rising and silver prices falling. Near the close, COMEX Gold futures were up 0.30 percent to $1,283.70. Silver contracts traded down 0.43 percent to $19.87. Copper fell 0.63 percent on the day to $3.1575.

The grains complex was largely lower on Friday. Corn futures were last down 3.37 percent while wheat lost 0.29 percent. In soft commodities, coffee fell 3.24 percent while orange juice concentrate rose almost 3 percent on the day.

Bonds
Bond prices fell on Friday. At last check, the iShares Barclays 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF (TLT) was down 0.23 percent to $107.57.

Yields were as follows on Friday afternoon: The 2-Year Note was yielding 0.35 percent. The 5-Year Note yield was 1.43 percent. The 10-Year Note and 30-Year Bond yields were at 2.59 percent and 3.65 percent, respectively.

Currencies
The U.S. Dollar made back some of its losses from Thursday on Friday. The PowerShares DB US Dollar Index Bullish ETF (UUP), which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of foreign currencies, added 0.22 percent to $22.47.

The closely watched EUR/USD pair fell 0.27 percent on the session. Other movers included the British Pound and the Australian Dollar. The GBP/USD pair fell 0.59 percent while the Aussie Dollar lost 1.28 percent against the greenback.

Volatility and Volume
The VIX fell 1.28 percent to 13.83 on Friday. The widely watched barometer of volatility expectations has been trending lower over the last couple of weeks as the market has bounced back to new highs.

Volume was lighter than normal on the day. Around 98 million SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) shares traded hands compared to a 3-month daily average of 144.6 million.

Stock Movers
WebMD (WBMD) jumped more than 25 percent on the session after the company lifted its second-quarter and full-year guidance.

athenahealth (ATHN) rose around 20 percent on Friday after the company announced it has entered into an agreement with Clinical Holdings, a physician services business operating under Ascension Health Alliance.

Shares of Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (ALNY) rallied for the second day in a row after announcing positive results from a Phase I drug trial. The stock closed up 15 percent.

Spreadtrum Communications (SPRD) climbed a little less than 13 percent after agreeing to be acquired by Tsinghua Holdings for $1.8 billion.

Quality Systems (QSII) rose roughly 12 percent on the day after the stock was upgraded to Outperform by Robert W. Baird. The firm cited activist investor Clinton Group's stake in the company as a potential catalyst.

Boeing (BA) fell around 5 percent in the middle of the day after one of its Dreamliner aircraft caught fire on the tarmac at Heathrow airport.

UPS (UPS) fell around 6 percent on Friday after the company cut its full-year outlook, citing a slowing U.S. industrial economy.

Spansion (CODE) fell more than 2 percent after cutting its revenue forecast for the fiscal second-quarter.

Sodastream (SODA) lost a little less than 5 percent on the session after Oppenheimer downgraded the stock to Perform and pulled its $85 price target. The Wall Street Journal also reported that investors are concerned about the company's upcoming Q2 report.

The Medicines Company (MDCO) lost around 7 percent on the day after receiving a negative court ruling.

BY Scott Rubin