Helping to support the fervor has been strong profit reports from Entergy and other big U.S. businesses. Companies in the S&P 500 are on track to deliver nearly 17% growth in their earnings per share for the final three months of 2024, compared with a year earlier. That would be the best growth since 2021, according to FactSet.

Wall Street edged back from its all-time high on Friday, as U.S. stock indexes drifted following mixed profit reports from big companies. The S&P 500 barely budged and slipped by less than 0.1%, a day after rallying within 0.

Wall Street edged back from an all-time high following mixed profit reports from big companies. The S&P 500 barely budged on Friday and slipped by a hair, a day after rallying within 0.1% of its record set last month.