Welcome to the home for real-time coverage of markets brought to you by Reuters reporters. You can share your thoughts with us at markets.research@thomsonreuters.com

TO INFINITY AND BEYOND! SPACEX LAUNCHES, STOCKS END WEEK WITH MODEST GAINS

Wall Street stocks ended a turbulent week on a positive note, with murmurs of progress toward a Middle East peace deal all but drowned out by the roar of SpaceX's record-shattering debut as a public company.

SpaceX stock SPCX.O closed 19.3% above its $135 offer price, sending its value over $2 trillion on its first day, or roughly the equivalent of Russia's 2024 GDP (World Bank Data).

A fairly broad rally pushed all three major U.S. stock indexes modestly higher on the day. All three indexes also managed to scrape together Friday-to-Friday gains at the conclusion of a roller-coaster week.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 353.51 points, or 0.70%, to 51,202.26, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 37.16 points, or 0.50%, to 7,431.46 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC gained 79.18 points, or 0.31%, to 25,888.84.

The Russell 2000 .RUT, S&P SmallCap 600 .SPCY and S&P MidCap 400 .MID all nabbed record closing highs on the day.

Gold & silver miners .XAU, airlines .SPCOMAIR, big banks .SPXBK and materials .SPLRCM were clear outperformers on the day, while homebuilders .SPCOMHOME, FANGs .NYFANG and retail .SPXRT were among the biggest laggards.

Disagreements and contradictions dominated the news surrounding efforts to reach an agreement to stop the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran and resume normal shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, the closure of which has rattled world markets, sparked fears of widespread inflation and tightening central bank policy.

But overlooking the nit-picky details, "progress" is the common theme, and considering front-month WTI and Brent crude futures both settled down more than 3% on the day, markets believe the talk might amount to more than bluster and noise this time.

On the economic front, easing gasoline prices in recent weeks helped UMich's preliminary gauge of June consumer sentiment lift itself off near record lows.

Data next week (shortened to observe the Juneteenth holiday) will cover goods producers (industrial production, Empire State, Philly Fed), the housing market (housing starts/building permits, pending home sales, homebuilder sentiment) and inflation (import prices).

But the Commerce Department's May retail sales numbers are the main event. Analysts expect that report to show a repeat of April's 0.5% monthly growth.

Here's your closing snapshot:

(Stephen Culp)

*****

EARLIER ON LIVE MARKETS:

SPACE RACE MOVES FROM TRADING FLOORS TO MOVIE THEATERS CLICK HERE

HOUSTON, WE HAVE A LISTING: SPACEX SOARS IN NASDAQ DEBUT CLICK HERE

FROM MORIBUND TO MERELY MOROSE: JUNE CONSUMER SENTIMENT BOUNCES IN THE BASEMENT CLICK HERE

SPACEX IPO: BUY THE FUTURE OR WAIT FOR THE PULLBACK? CLICK HERE

BULLS DEFEND 50-DMA AS NASDAQ EYES RECOVERY CLICK HERE

ONE DAY, TWO VOTES CLICK HERE

ECB: DON’T BELIEVE THE HIKES? CLICK HERE

WORLD CUP-ONOMICS CLICK HERE

TEXTBOOK BEHAVIOUR CLICK HERE

EUROPE BEFORE THE BELL: HIGHER ON THE LATEST PEACE HOPES CLICK HERE

HOPE SPRINGS ETERNAL, ESPECIALLY FOR MARKETS CLICK HERE