Investing.com – US stocks closed at record highs on Friday, as investors hoped lawmakers would be able to agree a deal to fund the government through a stopgap measure.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed higher at 26071.72. The S&P 500 closed 0.44% higher, while the Nasdaq Composite closed at 7336.38, up 0.55%.
Ahead of the government shutdown deadline Friday midnight, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said he made ‘some made progress’ in a meeting with president Donald Trump amid attempts to avert a government shutdown.
That helped eased investor fears somewhat and comes a day after the House passed a stopgap bill to keep the government open. The bill, however, is expected to face opposition in the Senate, where Republicans have a 51-seat majority but lack the 60 votes needed to pass the bill.
Political turmoil in Washington comes as quarterly earnings season got into full swing this week amid a raft of earnings that beat on both the top and bottom line, fueling investor expectations for another quarter of solid earnings.
Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX), slated to report earnings on Monday, closed marginally higher despite UBS raising its price target on the tech company’s stock to $250.
On the economic front traders cheered data showing inflation improved which offset weaker-than-estimated consumer sentiment index reading.
The University of Michigan's survey of consumer attitudes for January fell to 94.4, missing economists’ forecasts for a reading of 97. While one-year inflation expectations rose 2.8% in January from 2.7% in December, and five-year inflation expectations grew 2.5% from 2.4%.
'Bulls and Bears' on Wall Street
The top Dow gainers for the session: Nike (NYSE:NKE) rose 4.8%, Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS) up 2.1% and Home Depot (NYSE:HD) up 1.5%
International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) down 4%, General Electric Company (NYSE:GE) down 3%, and American Express Company (NYSE:AXP)down 1.5%, were among the worst Dow performers of the session.