NEW YORK (dpa-AFX) – Despite increasing tensions in the Middle East conflict, the US stock markets rose for the most part on Friday, led by strong technology stocks. The S&P 500 and the NASDAQ 100 reached record highs again. The US labor market report for April was noticeably better than expected, while the consumer climate index compiled by the University of Michigan fell more than expected to a record low.
The Dow Jones Industrial closed 0.02 percent higher at 49,609.16 points. This resulted in a weekly gain of 0.2 percent for the US leading index. The market-wide S&P 500 rose by 0.84 percent to 7,398.93 points on Friday. The Nasdaq 100 rose by 2.35 percent to 29,234.99 points. This resulted in a weekly increase of 5.5 percent for the technology-heavy selection index./edh/he
