Stocks Climb for Fifth Straight Day

Updated from 4:11 p.m. EDT

Blue chips were stronger and tech stocks ticked up Friday as the major averages posted a fifth straight day of gains, even as oil closed at a record high.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 44.42 points, or 0.42%, to 10,623.07, helped by Caterpillar's(CAT Quote) 1.9% gain.

The S&P 500 was up 6 points, or 0.5%, to 1216.96, pushing the index into positive territory for the year, while the Nasdaq Composite was higher by 0.96 points, or 0.05%, to 2090.11. The 10-year Treasury was down 1/32 in price to yield 4.08%, while the dollar was weaker against the yen and the euro.

Trading volume on the New York Stock Exchange was 2.36 billion shares, with advancers beating decliners by a 5-to-3 margin. Volume on the Nasdaq was 2 billion shares, with advancers matching decliners.

"The important thing most people have missed is that the advance/decline ratio is at a new recovery high, a good internal sign," says Al Goldman, chief market strategist with A.G. Edwards. "We've done this in the face of oil going up. We're feeling better about the economy. I still think the market will work higher, because the economy is still in good shape."

For the week, the Dow rose 1.05%, the S&P 500 was higher by 1.57%, and the Nasdaq gained 1.31%.

Oil futures spiked to record highs Friday in Nymex trading. The July crude contract finished $1.89 higher at $58.47 a barrel. Oil also touched a new intraday record of $58.60.

On the economic front, the University of Michigan's preliminary consumer sentiment index for June came in at 94.8, a five-month high. The reading came in above both economists' expectations of 89.0 and the final May reading of 86.9.

"This is the biggest monthly increase since April 2003, after the fall of Baghdad," says Ian Shepherdson, chief economist with High Frequency Economics. "If the gain in expectations can be maintained, it will signal significantly firmer core retail sales through the summer, but we are a bit nervous that the rebound in oil prices in the past couple of weeks will lift retail gas prices, dampening sentiment."