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S&P 500 hits five-year high
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NEW YORK -- The Standard and Poor's 500 edged up to a five-year high Friday, extending a rally that started in January.
The S&P 500 rose 8.54 points to 1,517.93, closing 0.3 percent up for the week. The index is at its highest since November 2007 and has advanced for six weeks, the longest streak of gains since August.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 48.92 points, or 0.4 percent, to 13,992.97. The Nasdaq composite climbed 28.74 points, or 0.9 percent, to finish the week at 3,193.87.
The Dow had its best January in almost two decades, and closed above 14,000 on Feb. 1 for the first time since 2007. The index is up 6.8 percent so far this year; the S&P 500 is up 6.4 percent.
The S&P 500 finished the week higher despite logging its biggest daily decline in almost three months Monday following worrying news from Europe.
"Everybody seems to be saying this market needs to correct," said Robert Pavlik, chief market strategist at Banyan Partners. "Nobody wants to be in it, but nobody wants to be out of it."
Currently, analysts are expecting earnings for the fourth quarter of 2012 to rise 6.5 percent for S&P 500 companies, according to data from S&P Capital I&Q. That's an increase from the 2.4 percent growth rate recorded for the preceding quarter.
Stocks have benefited as investors poured a net $4.1 billion into stock mutual funds since the start of the year, according to data provided by Lipper.
"I'm very encouraged by the fact, that finally, for the first time in many years, individual investors seem to be participating in this," said David Kelly, chief global strategist at J.P. Morgan Funds.
The yield on the 10-year note, which moves inversely to its price, fell one basis point to 1.95 percent.
First Published February 9, 2013 12:00 am
