Stocks rose to a 19-month high Friday, with Merck leading the Dow after the drug giant assuaged concerns about the impact of health-care reform. The Dow pulled off an eighth straight week of gains. And it was a straight flush this week, with the Dow ending higher in five of five sessions this week, for a total gain of 1.7 percent.
A few weak outlooks and lingering worries about Greece kept a lid on some of those gains but there was enough relief in earnings news and subsiding worries about the charges against Goldman Sachs that the Dow pulled it off.
This eight-week winning streak is the Dow's longest since January 2004. This was also the eighth straight weekly win for the Nasdaq. And one-third of the companies in the S&P 500 were trading at 52-week highs or greater.
Energy, consumer discretionary and industrials were the week's best-performing sectors as investors continued to bet on the recovery. The health-care, telecom and consumer staples sectors were among the weakest links.
Analysts say there's still a lot of uncertainty around the health care and telecom sectors and that the market is going through a period of rotation. "Investors believe that the valuations have gotten ahead of themselves," said Quincy Krosby, market strategist at Prudential Financial.
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