Updated Fri, Aug 15 20259:34 AM EDT

S&P 500 and Dow hit record highs, head for big weekly gain after solid retail sales data: Live updates

The S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average rose to record highs Friday, boosted by retail sales data pointing to a strong consumer, as Wall Street looked to wrap up another week of gains.

The broad market index climbed 0.1%, while the 30-stock Dow advanced 200 points, or 0.4%. Aiding the Dow was a 12% surge in UnitedHealth after Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway and Michael Burry’s Scion Asset Management revealed they bought stock in the insurance giant during the second quarter. The Nasdaq Composite was flat.

July’s retail sales data, released on Friday morning, painted a still-healthy picture for the U.S. consumer. Retail sales rose 0.5% last month, meeting expectations from the Dow Jones consensus. Retail sales excluding automobiles gained 0.3%, also matching estimates.

For the week, the major averages were headed for solid gains. The Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq gained more than 1% week to date as of Thursday’s close, thanks to new consumer inflation data that raised hopes for a Federal Reserve rate cut next month.

Those expectations took a hit on Thursday, however, after a much hotter-than-expected wholesale inflation report. Stocks initially fell during the session but managed to recover most of their losses, with the S&P 500 eking out a fresh record closing high.

“I don’t think that one data point is enough to change a thesis around the trajectory of inflation,” said Tom Lee, head of research at Fundstrat Global Advisors. “Our base case remains that this is going to ultimately be viewed as transitory by the market.”

Intel gained more than 3% following a Bloomberg report that the Trump administration is in discussions to have the U.S. government take a stake.