KEY POINTS:
Wall Street's record-breaking run in the past week has propelled the Dow Jones Industrial Average above 13,000 for the first time as strong corporate profits have overshadowed weak economic news.
Yet some market analysts argue that the extraordinary gains will soon lead to a pullback.
The Dow index of 30 blue chips closed on Friday at an all time high of 13,120.94, marking a weekly surge of 1.23 per cent.
The broad market Standard & Poor's 500 index meanwhile rose 0.65 per cent to end the week at 1494.07 points, edging closer to its all-time high of 1527.46 in March 2000.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite spiked 1.22 per cent for the week to 2557.21.
Some analysts say a pullback is inevitable after the recent spike, but that any correction will be limited.
Wall St's gains were boosted by some bumper corporate earnings, such as those from oil giant ExxonMobil which reported better than expected quarterly profits of US$9.28 billion ($12.52 billion).
However, the stock market's rosy performance is not being mirrored in the wider economy. US gross domestic product (GDP) growth slowed to a much weaker than expected 1.3 per cent in the first quarter of the year, marking its worst pace since the first quarter of 2003.
That news came days after an industry report showed existing homes sales had slumped a heavy 8.4 per cent to an annualised pace of 6.12 million units in March, marking the biggest monthly fall in over 18 years.
The stock market is also sailing into a week in which it will be buffeted by a flurry of economic news and monthly sales updates from the major car manufacturers.
US auto sales have dropped far below expectations for April, a Ford Motor executive said on Friday, characterising industry-wide results as "terrible".
Ford chief sales analyst George Pipas said the spillover from weaker housing to other areas of the economy and rising gas prices appear to be affecting consumers but added that many of these same factors were also present in March.
- REUTERS
