China cuts, U.S. stocks soar. China's central bank made its first interest rate cut in more than two years Friday and the European Central Bank took action to stimulate its economy. The moves helped propel the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 to new closing highs.
"To the extent that you got dueling positive monetary policy statements in two places that we were concerned about a slowdown in economic growth, that’s very good," said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at Wunderlich Securities in New York.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 88.81 points, or 0.5 percent, to 17,807.81, the S&P 500 gained 10.59 points, or 0.52 percent, to 2,063.34 and the Nasdaq Composite added 11.10 points, or 0.24 percent, to 4,712.97. It was the fifth straight week of gains for major U.S. stock indexes.
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-- Reuters, NBC News and CNBC
