S&P 500 hits record as stocks end mixed
The S&P 500 inched up to set a new closing high for a second straight day as stocks closed mixed on an otherwise listless Friday.
Both the Dow and the Nasdaq started the day within striking distance of their record closing highs as well but stocks got little traction.
The Standard & Poor's 500 index climbed 0.1%, or less than 2 points, to top its previous closing high notched just Thursday. The index now stands at 2122.73.
The Dow Jones industrial average climbed 0.1% -- 20 points -- to finish at 18,272.56. Its record close of 18,288.63 came March 2.
Down was the Nasdaq composite index, falling less than 0.1%, or 2 and a half points, to 5048.29. its record close of 5092.09 came April 26.
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Bond prices continued to recover from the week's earlier sell-off. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 2.14% from 2.23% Thursday. That's down from a recent high of 2.34%.
Oil prices fell as benchmark U.S. crude dropped 0.6% to $59.55 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Weak economic news contributed to the lackluster session:
• Industrial production fell 0.3% in April, its fifth straight monthly decline. Manufacturing remains sluggish as a stronger dollar and low oil prices take a toll.
• Consumer sentiment fell sharply in May as the University of Michigan preliminary index dropped to 88.6 from 95.9 in April. It was the lowest level for the consumer sentiment index since October.
Shares of Netflix (NFLX) surged and topped $600 a share for the first. A report that the video streaming service is in talks to expand into China sent its stock up 4.5% to $613.25.
Overseas, Asian markets were mixed as Japan's Nikkei 225 gained 0.8% to 19,732.92 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng jumped 2% to 27,822.28. The Shanghai composite index dropped 1.6% to 4,308.69.
European stocks were lower as Britain's FTSE 100 fell 0.2% and Germany's DAX index dropped 1%.
Thursday, the Dow and S&P snapped a three-day losing streak as the Dow rose 192 to 18,252 and the S&P gained 23 to a record close of 2121.