U.S. stocks post sixth straight weeks of gains, gold hits all-time high
All three major US stock indexes end higher
Crude prices drop on worries about weaker demand
Gold hits record $2,700 per ounce
Netflix, Procter & Gamble post results
Updates to U.S. market close
By Stephen Culp
NEW YORK, Oct 18 (Reuters) -Tech stocks powered Wall Street stocks to a higher close and crude prices posted their biggest weekly drop in a month on Friday as investors looked past mixed earnings and focused on solid Netflix results and Beijing's policy steps to boost Chinese demand.
Gold, meanwhile, muscled past the $2,700 mark for the first time ever.
"Gold is having a strong run because of the breadth of uncertainties," Greg Bassuk, chief executive officer at AXS Investments in New York. "It’s the safe-haven play, and investors would be prudent to diversify their portfolios' safe-haven allocations amid this deep level of uncertainty."
Tech-adjacent megacap momentum stocks .NYFANG boosted the Nasdaq, while the S&P 500's and the Dow's gains on the day were more modest.
The S&P 500 and the Dow, however, nabbed record closing highs.
All three indexes notched their sixth consecutive week of gains, their longest weekly winning streaks since late 2023.
A spate of earnings ran the gamut from upbeat to dour, with streaming platform Netflix NFLX.O showing strong subscriber additions, while consumer products company Procter & Gamble PG.N reported a surprise drop in sales due to slowing demand for its products.
"Netflix got the tech sector going, and when one sector is strong, usually people sell the other sectors, so the Nasdaq is leading and the Dow is lagging," said Jay Hatfield, chief executive officer at Infrastructure Capital Management in New York. "But a few days ago the exact opposite was happening, So it's a classic market melt-up."
"People are responding to global (interest) rate cuts, and the U.S. economy is strong," Hatfield added. "The only uncertainty is the (U.S. presidential) election, but it seems like people are getting more comfortable with that outcome as well."
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 36.86 points, or 0.09%, to 43,275.91; the S&P 500 .SPX rose 23.20 points, or 0.40%, to 5,864.67; and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC rose 115.94 points, or 0.63%, to 18,489.55.
European stocks closed higher, helped by a resurgence in tech stocks at the conclusion of a choppy week, which included mixed earnings and a rate cut from the European Central Bank. The STOXX 600 logged its second weekly advance.
A rally in Chinese stocks in reaction to Beijing's latest policy steps to boost demand also gave investor sentiment a boost.
MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe .MIWD00000PUS rose 5.04 points, or 0.59%, to 857.11. The STOXX 600 .STOXX index rose 0.21%, while Europe's broad FTSEurofirst 300 index .FTEU3 rose 4.81 points, or 0.23%
Emerging market stocks .MSCIEF rose 19.59 points, or 1.73%, to 1,154.72.
U.S. Treasury yields dropped as the market consolidated following large increases over the last month as market participants grew accustomed to a less dovish Fed in the face of stronger-than-expected economic data.
The yield on benchmark U.S. 10-year notes US10YT=RR fell 2.1 basis points to 4.075%, from 4.096% late on Thursday.
The 2-year note US2YT=RR yield, which typically moves in step with interest rate expectations, fell 3.7 basis points to 3.95%, from 3.987% late on Thursday.
The dollar dipped after five straight sessions of gains as risk appetite improved in the wake of Beijing's stimulus announcement. But the greenback looked set to log its third consecutive weekly gain.
The dollar index =USD, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies including the yen and the euro, fell 0.28% to 103.49, with the euro EUR= up 0.3% at $1.0864.
Against the Japanese yen JPY=, the dollar weakened 0.45% to 149.53.
Front-month oil futures dropped and were on course for their biggest weekly slide since early September due to mounting concerns about Chinese demand and investors parsed a mixed outlook regarding the Middle East conflict.
U.S. crude CLc1 fell 2.05% to $69.22 a barrel, while Brent LCOc1 fell to $73.06 per barrel, down 1.87% on the day.
Gold prices busted through the $2,700 mark for the first time as the safe haven metal continues to benefit from global uncertainties.
Spot gold XAU= rose 1.01% to $2,719.75 an ounce.
World FX rates YTD http://tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh
Asian stock markets https://tmsnrt.rs/2zpUAr4
World stocks YTD https://reut.rs/3YeHNBQ
Reporting by Stephen Culp; Additional reporting by Iain Withers in London and Kevin Buckland in Tokyo; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle, Nick Zieminski and Jonathan Oatis
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