The Standard & Poor’s 500 index closed above 1,500 on Friday for the first time since the start of the Great Recession in 2007, lifted by strong earnings from Procter & Gamble and Starbucks.
The S&P 500 rose 8.14 points to 1,502.96. It was the eighth straight gain, the longest winning streak since November 2004. The Dow Jones industrial average closed at 13,895.98, up 70.65 points. The Nasdaq composite gained 19.33 points to 3,149.71. Stocks have surged this month, with the S&P 500 advancing 5.4 percent. It jumped at the start of the year when lawmakers reached a last-minute deal to avoid the “fiscal cliff.” Stocks built on those gains on optimism that the housing market is recovering and the labor market is healing.
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