Stocks close the week at record highs
NEW YORK - Stocks rose slightly to end the week at new record highs Friday after better-than-expected first quarter economic growth data offset some disappointing earnings reports.
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq indexes both saw a new record high as better-than-expected earnings Amazon and Ford overshadowed disappointments for Intel and Exxon Mobil.
The S&P 500 index is up 17 percent year-to-date with first-quarter earnings proving not as bad as investors feared after the Federal Reserve earlier this year decided to hold off on further interest rate rises.
The first-quarter gross domestic product grew 3.2 percent, the Commerce Department said Friday morning, beating estimates for 2.5 percent growth, compared to a 2.2 percent increase in the last quarter of 2018. The first-quarter GDP growth was the fastest in six years.