A surge in trading on Wall Street sent the Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite to new highs. The Dow, which crossed the 27,000 level for the first time Thursday, closed at 27,332, the S&P closed above the 3,000 level for the first time and the Nasdaq hit a record as well at 8,244.

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Ticker Security Last Change Change % I:DJI DOW JONES AVERAGES 27174.07 +358.63 +1.34% SP500 S&P 500 3298.81 +52.22 +1.61% I:COMP NASDAQ COMPOSITE INDEX 10911.428959 +239.16 +2.24%

Investors continue to remain optimistic that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates at the end of July after Chairman Jerome Powell signaled as much during two-days of hearings on Capitol Hill.

“The markets are responding to Powell actually confirming what the futures markets were already telling us,” said Randy Frederick, vice president of trading and derivatives at Charles Schwab & Co.

In economic news, the Labor Department said on Friday its producer price index for final demand edged up 0.1 percent last month after a similar gain in May. In the 12 months through June, the PPI rose 1.7 percent, the smallest gain since January 2017. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast the PPI unchanged in June and increasing 1.6 percent on a year-on-year basis.

Volkswagen will invest $2.6 billion in Ford Motor Co.'s autonomous vehicle partner, the companies announced on Friday, as the two firms deepen their alliance to develop electric and self-driving vehicles.The funding will value Argo AI at more than $7 billion and give Ford and Volkswagen combined majority control of the company.

Ticker Security Last Change Change % F FORD MOTOR COMPANY 6.53 -0.12 -1.80%

Meanwhile, shares for top pharmacy benefit managers, like CVS Health and UnitedHealth Group Inc., are expected to continue to increase after the Trump administration abandoned an effort to eliminate the drug rebates that flow from drugmakers to the middlemen price negotiators.

Ticker Security Last Change Change % CVS CVS HEALTH CORPORATION 57.26 +0.56 +0.98% CI CIGNA CORP. 162.42 +1.43 +0.89% UNH UNITEDHEALTH GROUP INCORPORATED 302.39 +9.59 +3.28%

Shares of Facebook reversed losses on reports the social media giant has reached a $5 billion settlement with the Federal Trade Commission for privacy violations. Earlier in the session shares were low after President Trump criticized its cryptocurrency Libra in a tweet.

Ticker Security Last Change Change % FB FACEBOOK INC. 254.97 +5.44 +2.18%

Second-quarter earnings seasons kicks off in earnest next week with top banks like JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo reporting results for the three months through June.

Ticker Security Last Change Change % JPM JP MORGAN CHASE & CO. 93.37 +0.70 +0.76% WFC WELLS FARGO & COMPANY 23.64 +0.32 +1.35%

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On Thursday, Delta Air Lines reported better-than-expected profits fueled by higher sales of premium ticketing, the first airline to report earnings amid the grounding of the Boeing Max jet. The Atlanta-based carrier, however, does not have of the planes in its fleet.