US stocks close higher, S&P 500 near record high

By Ovunc Kutlu

ANKARA (AA) - Major indexes in the US stock market ended Friday higher and posted weekly gains, while S&P 500 came close to its all-time highest level.

The Dow Jones rose 179 points, or 0.5%, to 34,756 with chipmaker Intel adding 2% each. The blue-chip index was up 0.7% this week.

The S&P 500 increased 37 points, or 0.9%, to 4,229 -- just 9 points shy of its record high level of 4,238. The index rose 0.6% for the week.

The Nasdaq added 200 points, or 1.5%, to 13,814 with pharmaceutical companies Moderna and Novavax rising more than 5% each. The tech-heavy index increased 0.5% this week.

While the VIX volatility index was down 9% to 16.42, the yield on the 10-year US Treasury also fell 4.3% to 1.557%.

After rising for four consecutive days, the US dollar index, which shows the strength of the greenback against a basket of six other major currencies, declined 0.4% to 90.13.

Precious metals were preferred as safe bets by investors as gold added 1.1% to $1,894 per ounce, and silver rose 1.2% to $27.77 an ounce for the day.

Bitcoin, on the other hand, was down 3.9% to $37,100 at the time with some cryptocurrencies losing as much as 10%, after Tesla CEO Elon Musk shared a heartbreak emoji earlier on Twitter associated with Bitcoin.