S&P 500 rises near record; Fed Bank exec in Sarasota

BY JOSEPH CIOLLI

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rallied to within 1 percent of its all-time high Friday after General Electric announced a broad restructuring plan and investors awaited further clues on the strength of corporate profits.
GE rose the most in six years after saying it plans to exit the majority of its finance business, and it authorized a stock buyback of as much as $50 billion. Health-care companies advanced for a sixth day. Netflix climbed more than 3.4 percent, while financial stocks lagged as insurance companies slipped.
The S&P 500 rose 0.5 percent to 2,102.06, and posted back-to-back weekly advances for the first time in almost two months. The Dow Jones industrial average added 98.92 points, or 0.6 percent, to 18,057.65. The Nasdaq composite index increased 0.4 percent. About 5.6 billion shares changed hands on U.S. exchanges Friday, 17 percent below the three-month average.
“I’m a little surprised the market is moving with this level of enthusiasm,” said Mark Luschini, chief investment strategist in Philadelphia at Janney Capital Management, which oversees about $68 billion. “The announcement of the GE share buyback is gargantuan, and with it being a very widely- held position, a share price boost is also boosting investor portfolios and stock indices.”