US stocks' major indexes close out week higher
U.S. stocks closed higher Friday, with the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average surging triple digits, after a report that Boeing will roll out a software upgrade for its 737 Max jets in 10 days.
The Chicago-based aerospace giant pushed back on the AFP report, saying its software upgrade will be rolled out in the coming weeks and that the timeline hasn’t changed. All three major equity averages in the market ended the week higher.
Boeing shares, which had been down as much as 1.8 percent early in Friday's session, turned positive in midday trading and added some 30 points to the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
Investor sentiment also rose on optimism about about U.S.-China trade talks.
The annual session of China's ceremonial congress concluded Friday with Premier Li Keqiang pledging support for the slowing rate of growth in the world's second-largest economy.
Also, the congress endorsed a law discouraging Chinese officials from pressuring companies to hand over technology. The measure addresses complaints, particularly from Washington, that China's system is rigged against foreign companies.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| I:DJI | DOW JONES AVERAGES | 37929.86 | +154.48 | +0.41% |
| SP500 | S&P 500 | 4966.19 | -44.93 | -0.90% |
| I:COMP | NASDAQ COMPOSITE INDEX | 15282.02379 | -319.48 | -2.05% |
"This is designed to protect the rights and interests of foreign investors and attract more foreign investment," Li said.
Facebook stock fell after two top executives announced their resignations.
Shares of Microsoft hit an all-time high, taking out the previous intraday record of 116.18 on Oct. 3, 2019.
Chip and chip equipment stocks drove technology’s rally, led by Broadcom on better-than-expected earnings and guidance.
Broadcom shares notched a record high after posting stronger-than-expected results for the three months ended Feb. 3, the company's fiscal first quarter. The supplier to Apple and Samsung said it was maintaining its full-year fiscal 2019 business outlook.
"We had a good start to 2019 as we continued to execute on our proven business model. Strong results in our networking business supported our semiconductor solutions segment, despite the anticipated sharp decline in wireless. Additionally, our infrastructure software segment performed extremely well as we made good progress with the CA business integration into Broadcom," CEO Hock Tan said in a statement.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BA | THE BOEING CO. | 170.23 | +0.02 | +0.01% |
| FB | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. |
| MSFT | MICROSOFT CORP. | 399.43 | -4.84 | -1.20% |
| AVGO | BROADCOM INC. | 1,211.86 | -47.13 | -3.74% |
Crude oil prices declined as investors gauged large U.S. inventories of the commodity.
The University of Michigan reported Friday that its consumer sentiment survey bounced in March to 97.8 from 93.8.
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In Asian markets on Friday, China's Shanghai Composite was up 1 percent and rose 1.7 percent this week. Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 0.6 percent and added 2.8 percent for the week. Japan's Nikkei average ended 0.8 percent higher and rose 2 percent for the week.
European markets finished the day higher. London's FTSE added 0.7 percent and 1.8 percent for the week, Germany's DAX also rose 0.7 percent and rose 1.9 percent for the week. France's CAC gained 1 percent and added 3 percent for the week.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.