S&P 500 in Longest Weekly Winning Streak in Nearly 10 Years

FOX Business: Capitalism Lives Here

The broad S&P 500 closed in the green for the eighth-straight week -- its longest winning streak since early 2004.

Today's Markets

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 10.9 points, or 0.07%, to 16086, the S&P 500 dipped 1.4 points, or 0.08%, to 1806 and the Nasdaq Composite advanced 15.1 points, or 0.37%, to 4060.

The markets also posted a solid monthly advance: The Dow climbed 3.5%, the S&P 500 gained 2.8% and the Nasdaq rose 3.6%.

It's been another good month for Wall Street. The Dow is up 3.5%, the broader S&P 500 is 2.9% to the upside and the tech-heavy Nasdaq is up 3.2%. Both the Dow and S&P are trading at record highs, while the Nasdaq is at a 13-year high. The gains so far this month have been driven by ongoing hopes the Federal Reserve will continue buying bonds at a clip of $85 billion a month until early next year.

Trading volume came in around 1.3 billion shares -- the lowest of the year. The economic calendar was also barren.

On the foreign front, Standard & Poor's slashed the Netherlands' credit rating to "AA+" from "AAA." Spain's outlook, meanwhile, was upgraded to "stable" from "negative." Markets in Europe rose modestly on the day, while Asian shares were mixed.

"Overall, European risky assets were also supported by stronger consumer confidence, which reached the highest level since mid-2011 yesterday," Barclays wrote in a note to clients.

In corporate news, traders were paying close attention to retailers like Wal-Mart (NYSE:TGT), Target (NYSE:TGT) and Best Buy (NYSE:BBY) as the key holiday-shopping season kicks off.

U.S. crude oil prices climbed 49 cents, or 0.53%, to $92.79 a barrel. Wholesale New York Harbor gasoline dipped 0.06% to $2.697 a gallon. Gold jumped $15.40, or 1.2%, to $1,253 a troy ounce.