US stocks surge to another record high as S&P 500 posts longest streak of weekly gains in 2 years

The S&P 500 posted its sixth straight weekly gain, the longest such streak since late 2017.
The fresh highs came amid a boost in optimism for a trade deal after White House Economic Adviser Larry Kudlow said late Thursday the US and China were getting closer to reaching a resolution.
Tech heavy-weights Microsoft and Google-parent Alphabet both notched record highs on Friday as well.
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All major US stock indexes posted all-time highs on Friday. The S&P 500 notched its sixth straight weekly gain, the index's longest streak in two years.

Here's a look at the major indexes as of the 4 p.m. close on Friday:

The S&P 500 gained 0.77%, to 3,120.46.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 0.8%, to 28,004.89.
The Nasdaq Composite rose 0.73%, to 8,540.83.

The record highs came as White House Economic Adviser Larry Kudlow said late Thursday that the US and China are drawing closer to striking a trade deal, pumping investors with some optimism that a resolution could soon be reached.

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said in an interview on the Fox Business Network on Friday that while progress has been made, some issues still remain.

"The president hasn't agreed to remove the tariffs," Ross said. "We'll see the details as they come through and they're gonna be good details or else the president won't go along with it."

Chris Zaccarelli, the chief investment officer at Independent Advisor Alliance, said in an email that "the Dow approaching the psychologically important 28,000 level is yet another sign that investors are regaining confidence in the pending trade truce with China."

Here are the top five performers in the S&P 500 on Friday:

Applied Materials : 9%
Anthem : 5.6%
Humana : 5.5%
Centene : 5.3%
UnitedHealth Group : 5.3%

Microsoft and Google-parent Alphabet two stocks that are heavily weighted within the S&P 500 both rose more than 1.2% to all-time highs.

Healthcare stocks posted more than double the gains of any other sector in the index, rising about 2.2%. Energy, communications, and technology shares rose more than 0.6%, while industrials added 0.7%.

Materials posted the only loss out of any sector, falling 0.1%.

Stocks have climbed to new heights multiple times in the last several weeks after stronger-than-expected corporate earnings and optimism around a trade deal.

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