Dow hits new record

Blue-chip average rallies, notching a new high on merger news; broader market gains.

By Jessica Dickler and Alexandra Twin, CNNMoney.com staff writers

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Stocks rose Friday, with the Dow Jones industrial average closing at another record high and the blue-chip indicator up for the seventh straight week, as investors cheered the latest merger news from Microsoft and talk of a deal involving General Electric.

The Dow (up 65.51 to 13,542.23, Charts) climbed about 0.6 percent to notch a new all-time high of 13,556.53. The blue-chip barometer also hit a fresh intraday high of 13,550.92 earlier in the session.

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The broader S&P 500 index (up 9.20 to 1,521.95, Charts) rose 0.6 percent and ended at a new 6-year high. The index now stands just 5 points short of its all-time high from March 2000.

The tech-fueled Nasdaq composite (up 17.11 to 2,556.49, Charts) added 0.7 percent.

All three major gauges slipped Thursday, with the Dow giving up attempts at a third straight record close due to rising oil prices and mixed economic news. But Friday was more positive, thanks to the latest spate of corporate deals.

For the week, the Dow, S&P and Nasdaq all ended higher. This marks the seventh straight up week for the industrial average, its best run in over three years.

Since the late February selloff, stocks have been on a tear, driven by better-than-expected quarterly earnings and a slew of mergers and corporate deals.

Now, the Dow is at an all-time high, the S&P 500 is close to its all-time high and the Nasdaq is at a more than six-year high.

But because the major gauges are touching records, there has been some nervousness that stocks could be in for a big pullback.

"People have been waiting for a pullback for a long time," said Tony Dwyer, equity market strategist at FTN Midwest Research. "But, as each day goes by, the backdrop remains positive and valuations are still historically low."

Going forward, "I think we're going to see a continuation of the market moving methodically higher," Dwyer said.

Here's what was moving near the close:

General Electric (up $0.36 to $36.89, Charts, Fortune 500) is reportedly close to selling its plastics business for about $11 billion, The Wall Street Journal reported, with about 3 bidders in contention.

And Microsoft (down $0.21 to $30.77, Charts, Fortune 500) said it is buying online ad agency aQuantive (up $27.91 to $63.78, Charts) for $6 billion in cash. aQuantive shares jumped 77 percent, but Microsoft shares slipped, with analysts saying the company was paying a high premium for the ad firm.

The deal sent aQuantive competitor ValueClick (up $2.09 to $29.97, Charts) shares rallying 7.5 percent in active Nasdaq trade. (Full story).

In earnings news, both Nordstrom (up $0.08 to $53.25, Charts, Fortune 500) and Kohl's (up $0.78 to $74.94, Charts, Fortune 500) reported higher-than-expected quarterly earnings and boosted full-year financial targets after the close of trade late Thursday. Both stocks rose Friday.

And shares of Intuit (Charts) Inc. jumped 13 percent a day after the tax preparation software maker posted a higher quarterly profit and announced plans to buy back up to $800 million in stock.

Market breadth was positive. On the New York Stock Exchange, winners beat losers by 5 to 3 on volume of 1.6 billion shares. On the Nasdaq, advancers topped decliners by nearly 2 to 1 on volume of 2.1 billion shares.

On the economic front, the University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index rose to 88.7 in May from 87.1 last month, topping forecasts.

U.S. light crude oil for June delivery rose 8 cents to $64.94 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

COMEX gold for June delivery rose $4.80 to $662 an ounce.

Treasury prices slipped, pushing the yield on the 10-year note to 4.80 percent from 4.75 percent late Thursday. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.

In currency trading, the dollar trimmed losses against the Japanese yen and fell against the euro. Top of page

Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.

Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.