The S&P 500 closed out another strong week with a new all-time high Friday as the U.S. stock market shrugged off its dismal January numbers and climbed back to record levels.
The index gained 0.4% to close at 2,097, beating the previous high set Dec. 29 last year. The S&P has now added 1.8% on the year.
Stocks rose on optimism that Greece can reach a new debt agreement with European leaders when their talks resume next week. Meanwhile, the price of crude oil continued to tick upward with Brent crude gained more than 4%, to $57 per barrel.
The U.S. market responded positively to those factors, helping the S&P 500 complete its stark turnaround from a dismal January in which the benchmark index fell by 3%.
Also closing at a record high was the Russell 2000, as the small-cap index ended the day up 0.6% to close at 1,223.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average improved by nearly 47 points, or 0.3%, and ended the day above the 18,000-point mark for the first time since the end of December. The Dow finished the week at 18,019 — less than 35 points from its last record close — and is now up 1.1% on the year after also dropping by 3% during the month of January.
Meanwhile, the Nasdaq composite closed a week in which it gained more than 3% by adding 36 points, or 0.8%, to finish at almost 4,894. The tech-heavy Nasdaq closed the week at its highest level since the dot-com bubble burst in 2000 and is less than 160 points away from its all-time high.
The market had spent much of February recovering its losses from January, when falling oil prices and concerns over the economic and political turmoil in Europe sparked a string of market sell-offs.
