Wall Street’s so-called fear gauge dropped this week as U.S. stocks continued to set record highs, with investors appearing encouraged in part by the White House’s progress on the global trade front.

Friday closed up +0.40%, the Dow Jones Industrials Index ($DOWI ) (DIA ) closed up +0.47%, and the Nasdaq 100 Index ($IUXX ) (QQQ ) closed up +0.23%. September E-mini S&P futures (ESU25 ) rose +0.38%,

Strong earnings and continued spending from Alphabet boosted the broad S&P 500 and tech-laden Nasdaq to fresh record highs.

Friday marked another winning day for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq, as both indexes posted fresh all-time intraday and closing highs.

The VIX (Volatility Index) fell to a new local low of 14.95 yesterday, marking its lowest level since late February - coinciding with stocks hitting new highs. This reflects declining investor fear but also raises the possibility of a short-term market top.

So far this week, the S&P 500 has ended every day at a new high. The moves have been modest—on Thursday, the index advanced just 0.07%—but this is the longest streak of closing records since December,

The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite ended Thursday's session with fresh record closes after scoring new all-time intraday highs earlier in the trading day. The broad market index closed 0.07% higher to end at 6,363.35, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq inched up 0.18% to finish at 21,057.96.

The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq rose on Thursday, as investors sifted through a patchwork of earnings from megacaps like Alphabet and Tesla, while the Dow was weighed down by losses in UnitedHealth and IBM.