The S&P 500 and the Dow hit record highs on Friday after Morgan Stanley wrapped up bumper quarterly earnings reports from big U.S. banks, while optimism about a solid economic rebound put the main indexes on course for weekly gains, Reuters reports.
Nine of the 11 S&P indexes were higher, with only the information technology and the energy indexes edging lower after outperforming in the previous session.
The benchmark S&P 500 and the blue-chip Dow are on course for their fourth straight week of gains, while the technology-heavy Nasdaq is less than a percent below its own all-time closing high on the back of upbeat economic data and a solid start to the first-quarter corporate earnings season.
"You are just seeing blow out earnings from the banks and all the data pointing to a very strong reopening," said Thomas Hayes, chairman of Great Hill Capital.
"So it's a day for (the so-called) 'reopening trade' with strong financials."
Morgan Stanley reported a 150% jump in quarterly profit on Friday, joining JPMorgan Chase & Co , Goldman Sachs Group Inc and Bank of America in reinforcing hopes of a swift economic recovery.
Still, the investment bank's shares fell 2.9% as it also disclosed an almost $1 billion loss from the collapse of private fund Archegos. read more
Shares of JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo & Co (WFC.N) rose between 0.7% and 2.4%, while the S&P financials index (.SPSY) was up 0.4% after hitting a record high earlier in the day.
