S&P 500 rises, heading for year’s longest weekly win streak

Stocks keep ticking higher on Wall Street, and more gains for the S&P 500 Friday morning have it on pace to close out its fifth straight winning week

NEW YORK — Stocks keep ticking higher on Wall Street, and more gains for the S&P 500 Friday morning have it on pace to close out its fifth straight winning week.

The benchmark index was up 0.2% in early trading, adding to its record. It’s up 2.8% for the week and on track for its longest weekly winning streak since December, before the coronavirus pandemic swept the world and sent economies tumbling into recession.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 73 points, or 0.3%, at 28.565, as of 9:50 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.3% higher.

A report released before trading began showed that U.S. consumer spending grew more in July than economists expected. That’s key because consumer spending is the main driver of the nation’s economy. Consumers increased their spending by 1.9% for the third straight month of gains, though it was a slowdown from June.

Income also rose by 0.4% for Americans last month, snapping back from a drop in June.

Ulta Beauty, a company that relies on consumer opening their wallets, jumped 8.8% for one of the biggest gains in the S&P 500 after it reported a drop in profit for the latest quarter that wasn’t as bad as Wall Street analysts expected.

Technology stocks were also again helping to pull the market higher. HP rose 4.9% after it reported better profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. It and other tech companies have actually been benefiting from the pandemic in some ways, as it pushes more people to work and learn from home, which drives revenue for them.

Stocks are continuing to rise after the Federal Reserve on Thursday unveiled a change in strategy that likely means interest rates will stay low for a long time, even if inflation rises above the 2% target level of the central bank.

Low interest rates and massive amounts of bond purchases by the Fed have helped prop up the economy, and they’re a central reason Wall Street has been able to recover from its nearly 34% plunge earlier this year, even though the pandemic is still raging.

With aid from the Federal Reserve firmly in place, investors want to see Congress also deliver more support for the economy. Weekly benefits that it approved earlier for unemployed workers have run out, and investors say the economy desperately needs another lifeline from Capitol Hill to carry it through its current weakness.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the White House’s chief of staff resumed talks on a big aid package Thursday, the first attempt to restart talks after negotiations fell apart earlier this month. But no deal seems imminent with both sides remaining far apart.

Stock indexes abroad were mixed as the Fed’s momentous decision continued to work its way through currency and other markets.

In Europe, Germany’s DAX lost 0.3%, and France’s CAC 40 slipped 0.1%. The FTSE 100 in London was virtually flat.

The Nikkei 225 lost 1.4% after Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said he is resigning due to health problems. Abe stepped down from a brief earlier term as prime minister in 2007, also for health reasons. He recently became Japan’s longest continuously serving prime minister.

Elsewhere in Asia, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng climbed 0.6%, South Korea’s Kospi added 0.4% and stocks in Shanghai jumped 1.6%.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury gave back a bit of its big rise from the day before, dipping to 0.72% from 0.74% late Thursday. The 30-year yield also dipped to 1.49% from 1.50%.

Longer-term yields, though, remain well above shorter-term yields, including the two-year yield at 0.11%. A wider gap between them can indicate rising investor expectations for the economy and inflation in the future.

Benchmark U.S. crude oil slipped 0.1% to $42.98 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, added 0.2% to $45.69.

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AP Business Writer Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.