NEW YORK -- The stock market shook off a bumpy start and ended modestly higher Friday, led by gains in consumer-products companies such as Monster Beverage and Procter & Gamble. Health care companies also rose. Energy companies slipped along with the price of oil.
The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 8.66 points, or 0.3 percent, to 2,779.03. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 75.12 points, or 0.3 percent, to 25,316.53. The Nasdaq composite gained 10.44 points, or 0.1 percent, to 7,645.51.
The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks rose 4.72 points, or 0.3 percent, to 1,672.49. Smaller and more U.S.-focused stocks have fared better than the rest of the market in recent months as investors worry that trade frictions could impact large multinational companies. The Russell is on a six-week winning streak.
Trading has been muted ahead of the Group of Seven summit in Quebec, which began Friday. The meeting is expected to be tense as other leaders confront President Donald Trump over his protectionist trade policies.
The G-7 meeting was set to be unusually contentious, as leaders of France and Canada in particular have expressed in tough terms their disapproval of the tariffs President Donald Trump recently imposed on steel and aluminum imports. Trump is expected to leave the summit today before it officially concludes as he heads to Singapore ahead of his meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
Wall Street appeared to get ever so slightly less worried about the trade situation this week. The Dow has taken a bigger hit from the trade disputes than other U.S. indexes, but this week was its best in three months. The Nasdaq and Russell 2000 reached all-time highs on Wednesday.
Consumer-products companies, which have been out of favor the past few months, rose for the second day in a row.
Among consumer-products makers, Monster Beverage climbed 5 percent to $55.48 after its annual shareholder meeting. Stifel analyst Mark Astrachan said the company's sales growth is solid. He said the company plans to raise its U.S. prices later this year in response to higher aluminum prices.
Tide-maker Procter & Gamble gained 1.9 percent to $77.18. Cigarette-maker Philip Morris International rose 2.6 percent to $79.42 after it raised its quarterly dividend, while Reuters said the company plans to start selling its tobacco-heating Iqos device in India.
U.S. crude oil slid 0.3 percent to $65.74 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, used to price international oils, fell 0.6 percent to $76.82 per barrel in London.
Energy companies followed suit. Halliburton shares slumped 1.7 percent to $48.10, and Noble Energy lost 2.3 percent to $34.06.
Bond prices edged lower. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 2.94 percent from 2.93 percent.
Gold was little changed at $1,302.70 an ounce. Silver declined 0.4 percent to $16.74 an ounce. Copper rose 0.8 percent to $3.30 a pound, its highest price this year.
Business on 06/09/2018