US stocks rise, Dow up for seventh straight session

Wall Street stocks Friday rose in early trade as the positive momentum from this week's US economic growth report lifted the market higher.
About 25 minutes into trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average stood at 18,092.69, up 62.48 points (0.35 percent).
The broad-based S&P 500 gained 8.89 (0.43 percent) to 2,090.77, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index rose 22.38 (0.47 percent) to 4,795.85.
Coming into Friday, the Dow had gained six straight sessions and jumped above 18,000 for the first time on Tuesday after data showed the US economy grew five percent in the third quarter.
Trade was expected to be light Friday after US markets were closed Thursday for the Christmas holiday.
"The US equity markets are beginning the day with some mild gains as investors may have a difficult time discovering opportunities today as there are no scheduled earning releases or domestic economic reports and most major markets around the globe remain closed," said a market note from Charles Schwab.
Oil-services stocks rallied somewhat as oil prices moved higher. Halliburton gained 0.8 percent, Schlumberger rose 0.5 percent and Transocean put on 1.8 percent.
Retail stocks were mostly higher on generally positive reports about the critical holiday shopping season. Best Buy advanced 1.1 percent and Gap and TJX both gained 0.5 percent.
Bond prices were mixed. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury held steady at 2.26 percent, while the 30-year dipped to 2.81 percent from 2.82 percent Wednesday. Bond yields and prices move inversely.