-- The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 2.3% this week to another round of new highs as the technology sector climbed on deals and earnings.
The S&P 500 ended Friday's session at 7,398.93, marking its latest all-time closing high. The market benchmark also set a fresh intraday high on Friday at 7,401.50, its sixth consecutive week of gains. The index is up 8.1% for the year.
This week's advance came as deal chatter and better-than-expected earnings drove strong gains in the technology sector. The deals included a preliminary agreement under which Intel (INTC) will make some of the chips powering Apple (AAPL) devices, according to a Wall Street Journal report citing people familiar with the matter.
Also, payroll data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed the US economy added more jobs than projected in April. This helped allay concerns about a slowdown in the labor market. Investors also saw the data as likely allowing the Federal Reserve to stick to its current policy stance.
Nonfarm payrolls for April rose by 115,000, well above the 65,000 increase expected in a Bloomberg-compiled survey. Private payrolls growth slowed to 123,000 in April from 190,000 the month prior, the BLS reported, surpassing the consensus estimate for a 75,000 gain. The unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.3% in April, in line with Wall Street's estimates.
The technology sector jumped 7% on the week, followed by a 1.9% increase in communication services and a 1.8% increase in consumer discretionary. Materials, industrials and real estate also edged higher.
Akamai Technologies (AKAM) and Datadog (DDOG) topped the technology sector as shares soared 42% each. Akamai's Q1 results included a slight earnings beat and Chief Executive Tom Leighton said a US-based frontier model provider has committed $1.8 billion over seven years for the company's cloud infrastructure services. A Bloomberg report citing people familiar with the matter said the partner is Amazon.com-backed (AMZN) artificial intelligence startup Anthropic.
Datadog's surge came as the software maker posted higher-than-expected Q1 results and raised its full-year outlook.
Walt Disney's (DIS) stock was the best performer in communication services, climbing 4.8% on the week as the media and entertainment company's fiscal second-quarter results came in ahead of market estimates amid revenue gains across all business operations. Disney also reiterated expectations for growth to accelerate in the second half.
Tesla (TSLA) led the gainers in consumer discretionary. The electric vehicle maker's shares rose 9.6% amid a report that the company's China-made electric vehicle sales rose for a sixth consecutive month on a year-over-year basis.
On the downside, the energy sector fell 5.4%, followed by a 4% loss in utilities, a 1.4% slip in financials and a 1.2% decline in health care. Consumer staples were also lower.
The drop in the energy sector came as crude oil futures also fell on the week. APA (APA) was hit the hardest in the sector, losing 11% despite the company's Q1 earnings coming in above analysts' mean estimate.
In utilities, NRG Energy (NRG) shares had the largest percentage drop for the week, falling 10%. The company reported Q1 adjusted earnings per share below analysts' mean estimate even as revenue topped the Street view.
Next week's earnings calendar features Cisco Systems (CSCO), Applied Materials (AMAT) and Constellation Energy (CEG).
Economic data will include the April consumer and producer price indexes. Retail sales, existing home sales, import prices and industrial production for April will also be among the reports.