Small caps continued their upward march, with the Russell 2000 notching a fresh all-time high for the eleventh consecutive session and outperforming the S&P 500 for eleven straight days, the longest such streak since 2008.

Wall Street investors appear to be rotating into small- and mid-cap names, which are increasingly seen as offering the greatest potential for earnings surprises, supported by expectations of strong U.S. economic momentum in the final quarter of last year.

Industrial production rose by a stronger-than-expected 0.4% last month, retail sales continued to signal resilient consumer spending, and initial jobless claims helped ease concerns about a softening labor market. At the same time, tariff-related price pressures remained contained.

Taken together, the Atlanta Fed's GDPNow model estimates that the U.S. economy expanded at a robust 5.3% annualized pace in the fourth quarter.

By midday trading in New York, large-cap indices were broadly flat, while the Russell 2000 rose 0.5%.

The biggest stock moves on Friday were concentrated in electricity-related names. ...