US stocks keep rising after Fed minutes

U.S. stocks ended mildly higher Friday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average notching a six-session winning streak, as investors continued to digest minutes from the U.S. Federal Reserve's September meeting.

The Dow rose 33.74 points, or 0.20 percent, to 17,084.49. The S&P 500 edged up 1.46 points, or 0.07 percent, to 2,014.89. The Nasdaq Composite Index added 19.68 points, or 0.41 percent, to 4,830.47.

According to the minutes released Thursday afternoon, policymakers were concerned about reaching their inflation target of 2 percent and the impact of the global economic slowdown.

"So, the minutes showed a Fed mired in indecision, erring on the side of dovishness," said Stephen Guilfoyle, managing director at Deep Value, Friday.

New York Fed President William Dudley said Friday that the international developments in August and financial developments in the month raised some questions about the strength of the global outlook.

On the economic front, import prices edged down 0.1 percent in September, less than market expectations of a 0.4-percent drop, said the U.S. Labor Department Friday. However, export prices declined 0.7 percent, more than the 0.2 percent estimate by analysts.

In corporate news, shares of Alcoa tumbled 6.81 percent to 10.26 U.S. dollars apiece Friday, as the company posted weaker-than-expected quarterly results after Thursday's closing bell.

The metals firm reported third quarter 2015 net income of 44 million dollars, or 0.02 dollar per share, compared with a net income of 149 million dollars, or 0.12 dollar per share, in third quarter 2014.

On a weekly basis, all three major indices witnessed solid gains, with the Dow, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq surging 3.7 percent, 3.3 percent and 2.6 percent, respectively.

The CBOE Volatility Index, often referred to as Wall Street's fear gauge, decreased 1.95 percent to end at 17.08 on Friday.

In other markets, the U.S. dollar inched down against most major currencies as the dovish Fed minutes continued to weigh on the prospect of an interest-rate hike by year-end.

In late New York trading, the euro rose to 1.1363 dollars from 1.1272 dollars in the previous session, while the dollar bought 120.28 Japanese yen, higher than 119.96 yen of the previous session.

Gold futures on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange rebounded as the minutes from the Fed's recent meeting showed no hurry to raise interest rate.

The most active gold contract for December delivery advanced 11.60 dollars, or 1.01 percent, to settle at 1,155.90 dollars per ounce.