Stocks rose mostly higher on Friday, propelling all three market averages to their seventh-straight winning week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed over 55 points, while the S&P 500 Index ticked lower to a negative flatline and the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.35%.

Here's how the market settled to close out the week:

S&P 500 Index (SPY  ): -0.01% or -0.36 points to 4,719.19

Dow Jones Industrial Average (DIA  ): +0.15% or +56.81 points to 37,305.16

Nasdaq Composite Index (QQQ  ): +0.35% or +52.36 points to 14,813.92

Market participants were encouraged this week after the Federal Reserve signaled multiple interest rate cuts lay head in 2024 as inflation continues to improve. November's surprise U.S. retail sales gains also lifted investor sentiment on thursday, boosting outlooks that the U.S. is actually pulling off a "soft-landing" from its decades high inflationary pressures driven by the coronavirus pandemic's macroeconomic impact.

All three market averages ended the week with gains, with the Dow climbed 2.9%, and the S&P 500 and Nasdaq adding 2.7% and 3.3%, respectively. Wall street has also built on November's momentum so far this month, with the Dow and S&P up 3.8% and 3.3%, respectively, while the Nasdaq has climbed 4.1%.

On the earnings front, Costco Wholesale (COST  ) reported strong fiscal first-quarter earnings even as same-store sales came in lower than expected at 3.8% overall and 2.0% in the U.S. The wholesale retailer also announced a special cash dividend of $15 per share, totaled a payment of $6.7 billion, to be paid out on Jan. 12.

"The two years of COVID, we benefited in many ways from more members and more volumes and we've no only kept it, we're continuing now to add to those level, so we feel very fortunate in that regard," CFO Richard Galanti said on a call with investors regarding Costco's foot traffic, quoted by Yahoo!Finance.

Separate, yet notable, Costco also sold more than $100 million worth of gold in its fiscal first quarter, Galanti highlighted during the earnings call. Back in September, Galanti said the 1-ounce bars often sell out within a few hours once they are available on the company's website. Customers are limited to two bars per membership and the sales are non-refundable.

In single-stock news, DocuSign (DOCU  ) shares rallied higher on Friday after the Wall Street Journal reported that the software company is exploring a potential sale. The stock settled over 12% higher on Friday for its best session of the year so far on the news.