Wall Street closes at record highs after turbulent months

(Reuters) -The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite closed at all-time highs on Friday, bouncing back from a turbulent period sparked by U.S. President Donald Trump's trade policies based on tariffs.

The benchmark index rose 0.5% to about 6,173.07 points, surpassing the previous peak of 6,144.15 on February 19. The tech-heavy Nasdaq also gained 0.5% to 20,273.46 points, exceeding its record high of 20,173.89.

The indexes' records show a shift in investors' sentiment, amid hopes of interest rate cuts, a U.S.-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Iran, tamed prices and trade deals.

COMMENTS:

CHUCK CARLSON, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, HORIZON INVESTMENT SERVICES, HAMMOND, INDIANA:

“This market's been pretty resilient. Investors are riding momentum and looking for breakouts. They don't want to get caught on the wrong side of this thing. Many investors already missed the move up from April, and now you have the S&P at an all-time high.”

MICHAEL GREEN, CHIEF INVESTMENT STRATEGIST, SIMPLIFY ASSET MANAGEMENT, NEW YORK

"I think what is actually happening represents a much more mechanical process where trend-following strategies like CTAs have significantly increased their exposures. Low-volatility strategies are starting to follow that as well."

ADAM SARHAN, CHIEF EXECUTIVE, 50 PARK INVESTMENTS, NEW YORK:

"The market is very strong. With everything that was thrown at it this year... the market's at an all-time high. Even today, with Trump coming out and saying, 'hey, we're going to stop the trade talks with Canada, the market shrugged it off and - all-time high. That is extremely impressive and sets the stage for a very strong second half of the year."

MICHAEL ROSEN, CHIEF INVESTMENT OFFICER, ANGELES INVESTMENTS, SANTA MONICA, CALIFORNIA

"For now, the path of least resistance in equities is higher. As always, there are risks, both immediate and on the horizon. Tight monetary policy could cause the economy to slow more than expected, tariffs could be imposed that have a material impact on economic activity, wars, both present and potential, could disrupt the global economy. These are just the obvious risks; there are plenty of others, both known and unknown."

JAMES ST. AUBIN, CHIEF INVESTMENT OFFICER, OCEAN PARK ASSET MANAGEMENT, SANTA MONICA, CALIFORNIA:

"It's a continuation of this monster rally since early April. It's been quite an improbable comeback."

"We're starting to see earnings estimates for the next 12 months on the rise again after taking a little bit of a dip and that's what the market is buying into."

MARK MALEK, CHIEF INVESTMENT OFFICER, SIEBERT FINANCIAL, NEW YORK:

"What we're really witnessing this week is sort of the removal of some of the stumbling blocks that have been placed in the middle of the road. We've had all these trade issues that are still up in the air and we had the big overhang of what was going on in the Middle East."

PETER TUZ, PRESIDENT, CHASE INVESTMENT COUNSEL, CHARLOTTESVILLE, VIRGINIA:

"Instead of the Middle East becoming a bigger problem as the bombings occurred, people are coming to think that this is a problem that's off the table now. Inflation under control, doesn't seem like the tariffs have pushed anything up yet. The economy is OK. Seems like there is plenty of money out there to buy things. So why not make an all-time high?"

ART HOGAN, CHIEF MARKET STRATEGIST, B RILEY WEALTH, BOSTON:

"The driver for that momentum clearly is the dissipation of concerns over the magnitude of tariffs. That was the biggest concern in the early April time frame and I think that headwind seems to be dissipating a bit."

ROBERT PAVLIK, SENIOR PORTFOLIO MANAGER, DAKOTA WEALTH, FAIRFIELD, CONNECTICUT:

"Investors have regained confidence and have reassessed the situation with regards to tariffs and to how the president is handling the trade issue and that may be the concerns of tariffs leading to massive inflation and to a collapse of the economy won't come to fruition."

(Reporting by the finance and markets team)