S&P 500 Closes Above 1,900 For The First Time Ever

(RTTNews) - Stocks moved mostly higher over the course of the trading day on Friday, extending the upward move seen in the two previous sessions. The gains on the helped lift the S&P 500 to a record closing high above 1,900 for the first time.

Housing stocks turned in some of the market's best performances on the heels of upbeat new home sales data, driving the Philadelphia Housing Sector Index up by 1.9 percent. With the gain, the index ended the session at its best closing level in over a month.

Within the housing sector, D.R. Horton (DHI) and Lennar (LEN) posted standout gains, advancing by 4.1 percent and 4 percent, respectively.

Significant strength was also visible among airline stocks, as reflected by the 1.3 percent gain posted by the NYSE Arca Airline Index. The gain extended a recent upward move by the index, which reached a twelve-year closing high.

Electronic storage, internet, and semiconductor stocks also saw considerable strength, helping to drive the tech-heavy Nasdaq notably higher.

The major averages ended the day firmly in positive territory, near their highs for the session. The Dow rose 63.19 points or 0.4 percent to 16,606.27, the Nasdaq advanced 31.47 points or 0.8 percent to 4,185.81 and the S&P 500 climbed 8.04 points or 0.4 percent to 1,900.53.

With the gains over the past three-days, the major averages more than offset the pullback seen on Tuesday and closed higher for the week. The Nasdaq jumped 2.3 percent, while the S&P 500 surged up by 1.2 percent and the Dow advanced by 0.7 percent.