Dow at another record as Wall Street cheers more gains
The Dow Jones finished at a third straight record on Friday, concluding another winning week as Wall Street cheers easing US monetary policy and moderating inflation. The blue-chip index, which topped 37,000 for the first time this week, added 0.2 percent to finish at 37,305, a third straight record. The S&P 500 was essentially flat at 4,719, while the Nasdaq won 0.4 percent to 14,813. For the seventh straight time, all three indices scored weekly gains. The sideways move of the S&P 500 "is indicative of a market that still kind of wants to trade higher, but is doing a little consolidating today," said Briefing.com analyst Patrick O'Hare. Stocks have extended the rally since late October, in light of Wednesday's Federal Reserve meeting that signalled the central bank expects to cut interest rates next year. However, New York Federal Reserve President John Williams sought to dampen expectations for an imminent rate cut in an interview on CNBC, in comments that O'Hare said probably dampened bullishness a bit on Friday. Among individual companies, Costco jumped 4.5 percent after announcing a special cash dividend of US$15 a share following fourth quarter earnings that rose 16.5 percent to US$1.6 billion. (AFP)