BUZZ-US stocks weekly: Scrappy

** S&P 500 .SPX gains 1.6% as economic data and foreign affairs dominate the headlines .N

** Dow .DJI climbs 2.3% and Nasdaq Composite .IXIC adds 1.9%

** S&P 500 futures Escv1 start the week steady after Venezuela strike

** And traders wondered, in the new year, could the Dow Transports .DJT help keep the bubbly flowing? Indeed, DJT finally joined DJI in record closing high territory

** U.S. 10-Year Treasury yield US10YT=RR edging down to 4.17% area on the week. With this, there is pressure in the pipe

** Nearly every sector forges ahead: Consumer Discretionary and Materials most aggressive, while just Utilities relent

** Consumer Discretionary .SPLRCD surges 5.8%. Housing stocks recoup losses on Thurs after Trump-related sell-off

Then homebuilders and mortgage lenders jump on Fri after the President orders $200 bln of bond buys in move to reduce costs and rates. Lennar LEN.N and PulteGroup PHM.N up 14% and 11%, respectively, on the week

PHLX Housing Index .HGX leaps 8%

Conversely, General Motors GM.N falls on Fri as co to take $6 bln charge on EV pullback

** Materials .SPLRCM advance 4.8%. Albemarle ALB.N ascends after Berenberg raises PT on the lithium miner

Gold miners gain on US payrolls miss, broader uncertainty

PHLX gold/silver index .XAU rockets ~9%, hits record highs

** Industrials .SPLRCI firm 2.5%. Defense stocks rally on Mon after U.S. military intervention in Venezuela

Lockheed Martin LMT.N lifts off on Tues after Defense Department deal to boost PAC-3 capacity

Then defense names surge on Thurs as Trump proposes $1.5 trln 2027 budget, just after he threatened to halt their dividends, buybacks

iShares U.S. Aerospace & Defense ETF ITA.Z climbs ~5%, biggest weekly gain since mid-Oct of last year

** Communication Services .SPLRCL up 2.4%. Alphabet GOOGL.O rises; Scotiabank raises PT on cloud optimism. Stock hits record highs

** Energy .SPNY up 2.1%. Refiners including Valero Energy VLO.N and Phillips 66 PSX.N gain after Secretary Wright says Washington aims to restart Venezuelan oil flows

** Financials .SPSY up 1.4%. Though AIG AIG.N sags as CEO Zaffino shifts to executive chair

For the week, S&P 500 banks index .SPXBK up 1.2%, while KBW regional banking index .KRX vaults 3.6%

** Tech .SPLRCT edges up fractionally. Memory chipmakers such as SanDisk SNDK.O and Western Digital WDC.O soar as investors bet on price hikes from supply crunch

Microchip Technology MCHP.O jumps as fiscal Q3 sales outlook improves

Semiconductor index .SOX pops 3.7%

On the dim side, First Solar FSLR.O sheds 13% as Jefferies downgrades to 'hold' on "limited booking visibility and emerging strategic questions"

** Meanwhile, despite few bears, individual investors may be losing their appetite for risk

** SPX performance YTD:

(Lance Tupper and Terence Gabriel are Reuters market analysts. The views expressed are their own)

((lance.tupper@tr.com ; terence.gabriel@tr.com))