What happens next Where's my refund? Best CD rates this month Shop and save 🤑
MONEY
Perrigo plc

Stocks: Nasdaq, S&P 500 close at new records

Adam Shell, and Paul Davidson
USAToday

Wall Street closed out an historic week Friday as the Nasdaq composite and Standard & Poor's 500 indexes closed at records, the first time both were at new highs since the peak of the dotcom bubble 15 years ago.

The Nasdaq jumped 36.02 points, or 0.7%, to end at 5092.08 for its second record close in a row. The S&P rose for a fifth straight day, gaining 4.76 points, or 0.2%, to 2117.69. That small gain was enough to barely push the market benchmark above its previous record close of 2117.39 on March 2.

Traders on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 21.45 points, or 0.1%, to 18,080.14. It remains about 208 points away from its March 2 record close of 18,288.63.

For the week, the Nasdaq surged 3.2% and the S&P 500 jumped 1.8%. The Dow added 1.4%.

And now all three U.S. stock market measures are back on track for 2015 after a recent swoon. The Nasdaq is leading the resurgence, up 7.5% -- far ahead of the 2.9% gain in the S&P and 2.6% rise in the Dow this year.

The Nasdaq on Friday was powered by strong profit results from tech titans Microsoft (MSFT) and Amazon.com (AMZN). Amazon.com surged 14% after it revealed details of its cloud computing service. Microsoft jumped 10.5% as it easily beat Wall Street estimates.

Markets have been responding positively to earnings that are coming out better-than-expected and a lower profit shortfall than analysts were forecasting.

A spate of profit beats early in the first-quarter reporting season have trimmed the expected profit contraction to 1.5%. While a 1.5% projected drop in earnings would still mark the first negative quarter for profits since the financial crisis back in 2009, it's better than the 2.9% profit shortfall that analysts were forecasting back on April 1, according to data from earnings-tracker Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

The big hits to earnings this quarter are due in large part to the strength of the U.S. dollar vs. many key foreign currencies, which makes U.S. exports more expensive and crimps sales abroad.

Friday, investors were weighing the latest stream of earnings reports in the wake of the collapse of the $45 billion Comcast-Time Warner Cable merger.

Confirmation came about an hour before Friday's market open that No. 1 cable provider Comcast is calling off its $45.2 billion acquisition of rival and No. 2 cable player Time Warner Cable.

The move was widely expected after the Justice Department and Federal Communications Commission balked at the deal due to their belief that the marriage between the two cable behemoths would not be in the best interest of consumers nationwide.

In the wake of the news, CMCSA rose 0.7% and TWC jumped 4.4%.

Generic drugmaker Mylan (MYL) is increasing its offer to buy Perrigo (PRGO) to about $32 billion, upping the ante in a three-way takeover battle that also includes Teva (TEVA).

The British company said Friday it's offering to buy Perrigo of Ireland for $60 in cash and 2.2 shares for each Perrigo share.

In economic news,

orders for manufactured durable goods rose

4% on a healthy rebound in motor vehicles and transportation, the Commerce Department said Friday. Economists expected a rise of 0.6%.

But demand for items excluding aircraft and defense – a proxy for business investment — fell 0.5% and have declined seven straight months. A strong dollar is making U.S. exports more expensive for foreign buyers, hobbling manufacturers.

In other earnings news:

■ American Airlines posted a record profit in the first quarter of $932 million. AAL gained 2.4%.

■ Google (GOOG) shares rose 3.3% even earnings missed expectations, but analysts are upbeat.

■ Biotech firm Biogen reported lower-than-expected profit and revenue. BIIB islid 6.6%.

European benchmarks gained. The FTSE of Britain ended up 0.25%. France's CAC 40 climbed 0.4%, while the DAX of Germany climbed 0.75%.

Asia stocks ended mixed, Japan's high-flying Nikkei lost 0.8% and the Hang Seng of Hong Kong gained 0.8%.

Contributing: Ed Brackett.

Featured Weekly Ad