July 13 - The Dow and the S&P 500 opened at record highs on Friday, boosted by Walt Disney and tech-related shares, while signs of cooling inflation and a strong recovery in corporate earnings put the indexes on track for a second straight week increase.
Six of the 11 major S&P sectors advanced in early trading, with communications services which houses Google Inc. Disney, Facebook Inc and Netflix Inc. rising 0.5%.
Disney jumped 3.1% after it topped expectations for quarterly earnings as its streaming services picked up more customers than expected and Pandemic-hit U.S. theme parks returned to profitability.
A stellar earnings season, improving economic data and Senate's passage of a large infrastructure bill have all reinforced investors' belief in the economic recovery, pushing U.S. stocks to all-time highs in the past few days.
Concerns over higher inflation and a sooner-than-expected policy tapering by the Federal Reserve also ebbed after data earlier this week showed that the pace of increase in U.S. consumer prices slowed in July even as producer prices posted their biggest annual increase in more than a decade.
What we know about inflation at this point is that it remains relatively high, but doesn't appear to be getting a lot worse at the moment, said Charles Schwab managing director of trading and derivatives.
High inflation is not always a bad thing if it's accompanied by strong economic growth and right now it is just an indicator that the economy is doing very well.
Investors are waiting for the minutes of the Fed's latest policy meeting, due the next week, and the annual meeting of central bankers in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, later in August for fresh insights on policy.
ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 11.90 points, or 0.03%, at 35,511. 75, the S&P 500 was up 4.97 points, or 0.11%, at 4,465. 80, and the Nasdaq Composite was up 30.59 points, or 0.21%, at 14,846. 85
Dow and S&P briefly eased from record highs after a survey showed U.S. consumer sentiment dropped sharply in early August to a decade-low as Americans gave faltering outlooks on everything from personal finances to inflation and employment.
The Dow and the S&P 500 have risen respectively this week to their respective levels of 0.9% and 0.6%, boosted by gains in economically sensitive stocks.
DoorDash Inc. fell 1.2% after the food-delivery firm's losses were widened more than expected in the second quarter.
Pfizer Inc and Moderna Corp were led to gain 1.7% and 1.6% respectively, after the U.S. Food and Drug AdministrationU.S. Food and Drug Administration approved a booster dose of their COVID-19 vaccines for people with compromised immune systems.
U.S. shares of Pfizer's partner BioNTech rose 1.8%, while the broader health sector rose 0.5%.
Declining issues outnumbered advancers for a 1.15 to -1 ratio on the Nasdaq and for a 1.61 to - 1 ratio on the NYSE.
The S&P index recorded 48 new 52 week highs and no new lows, while the Nasdaq held 51 new highs and 82 new lows.