Stocks moved sharply higher over the course of the trading day on Friday, more than offsetting the weakness seen on Thursday. In a reversal from the previous session, the markets benefited from some upbeat U.S. economic data as well as comments from a Federal Reserve official.
Natural gas stocks showed a strong upward move over the course of the trading day, driving the NYSE Arca Natural Gas Index up by 2 percent. The gain extended a recent upward trend by the index, which reached a record closing high.
The strength among natural gas stocks was partly due to a notable increase by the price of the associated commodity, with natural gas for June delivery climbing $0.123 to $4.055 per million BTUs.
Similarly, oil service stocks saw significant strength, moving higher along with the price of crude oil. With crude for June delivery jumping $0.86 to $96.02 a barrel, the Philadelphia Oil Service Index advanced by 1.9 percent.
Considerable strength also emerged among brokerage stocks, as reflected by the 1.8 percent gain posted by the NYSE Arca Broker/Dealer Index. A strong gain by Nomura Holdings (NMR) helped lift the index to a two-year closing high.
Housing, banking, software and chemical stocks also showed strong moves to the upside on the day, moving higher along with most of the other major sectors.
Meanwhile, gold stocks bucked the uptrend amid a decrease by the price of the precious metal. As gold for June delivery slid $22.20 to $1,365.30 an ounce, the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index fell by 4.1 percent.
The major averages saw further upside going into the close, with the Dow and the S&P 500 reaching new record highs. The Dow climbed 121.80 points or 0.8 percent to 15,354.40, the Nasdaq advanced 33.72 points or 1 percent to 3,498.97 and the S&P 500 rose 15.65 points or 1 percent to 1,666.12.
With the gains on the day, the major averages all posted strong gains for the week. The Dow surged up by 1.6 percent, while the Nasdaq the S&P 500 jumped 1.8 percent and 2 percent, respectively.
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