US stocks set record and notch sixth winning week; oil slumps

The S&P 500 rose 0.4% on Friday, finishing the week at another record. It rose 0.9% this week, logging its sixth straight week of gains. The Nasdaq 100 climbed 0.7% on the day and 0.3% on the week. Still, the Russell 2000 lost 0.2%, logging its second session of losses, but the small cap-focused index still managed to score a 1.9% weekly gain.

The S&P 500 energy sector ETF was down 0.3% and fell 2.7% overall this week, making it the biggest laggard among all major sectors. 

Meanwhile, crude oil futures posted their biggest weekly losses in almost a year. The US benchmark WTI crude was down 8.4% this week, while the global benchmark Brent crude fell 7.6%. This marked the commodity’s first weekly loss after two consecutive weeks of gains for crude oil on the rising tension in the Middle East. But reports this week that Israel would not attack Iran’s oil facilities eased concerns over geopolitical risks. In addition, signs of slowing demand for crude oil from China continued to weigh on prices. 

All other sectors gained. Communication services added 0.7%, thanks to Netflix, which delivered its best profit ever on Thursday. The stock was the best S&P 500 performer of the day, up 11.1%. 

In other individual stock news, Lamb Weston jumped 10.2% after the Wall Street Journal reported that activist investor Jana Partners had acquired a stake in the struggling french-fry producer, with the possibility of pushing the company to explore a sale. CVS lost 5.2% after the company announced leadership changes and cut profit forecasts.