Investing.com – Wall Street hit new record highs on Friday, passing into positive territory for the week, as markets hurdled this week’s risk events to emerge unscathed.
At 10:43AM ET (14:43GMT), the Dow Jones gained 98 points, or 0.46%, the S&P 500 rose 11 points, or 0.43%, while the Nasdaq Composite traded up 18 points, or 0.29%.
U.S. stocks took the results of the U.K. general elections in stride Friday even as U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May’s plan to achieve a “strong and stable” government backfired after the Conservative Party lost its majority.
With no clear winner emerging from Thursday's election, a wounded May signaled she would fight on, despite calls from the opposing Labour Party to step down, and experts began to question how the British government would fare in their upcoming negotiations to leave the European Union that kick off on June 19.
The impact appeared limited to the British pound, which in turned helped the FTSE 100 lead European markets higher on Friday. Exporters in the U.K. benchmark benefit from a weaker sterling when profits in other currencies are brought home.
With no major economic reports scheduled for release stateside on Friday, New York traders appeared relieved that former FBI director James Comey’s testimony on Thursday failed to produce a “smoking gun” that could derail the political situation in the United States.
In the last of the week’s trio of risk events, the European Central Bank (ECB) left policy unchanged on Thursday, in line with market expectations, though the euro was under pressure as ECB president Mario Draghi admitted that the euro area monetary authority had yet to discuss tapering plans.
With the ECB decision behind them, market participants will look ahead to a widely expected rate hike from the Federal Reserve (Fed) next week.
According to Investing.com’s Fed Rate Monitor Tool, markets had priced in a 92% chance that the Fed will tighten policy on June 14, increasing interest rates by 25 basis points.
Still, markets remained skeptical that the American central bank would make another move before the year’s end with odds at only around 39%.
In light company news, shares of Dupont Fabros Technology (NYSE:DFT) soared 12% after Digital Realty Trust (NYSE:DLR) said it would merge with the data center operator in a deal valued at around $7.6 billion.
Pandora (NYSE:P) jumped nearly 6% after Sirius XM (NASDAQ:SIRI) offered to make a $480 million investment in the music platform.
Meanwhile, oil traded near the unchanged mark on Friday, but was on track for weekly losses of around 4% as market players continued to worry over the fact that increasing production from both the U.S. and Nigeria could derail OPEC’s efforts to curb the global supply glut.
In that light, investors awaited the latest data from Baker Hughes on U.S. drilling, out later on Friday.
The energy services provider said last week that U.S. drillers had added rigs for the 20th week in a row, the longest such streak on record, implying that further gains in domestic production are ahead.
The U.S. rig count rose by 11 to 733, extending a year-long drilling recovery to the highest level since April 2015.
U.S. crude futures dropped 0.02% to $45.63 by 10:46AM ET (14:46GMT), but Brent oil inched up 0.06% to $47.89.