New York: The Standard & Poor's 500 index is closing above 1,900 for the first time. Homebuilder stocks rose after the government reported that sales of new homes increased last month. Investors also bid up shares in GameStop and Hewlett-Packard after the companies reported positive earnings.
Trading was relatively quiet ahead of the Memorial Day holiday weekend.
The S&P 500 gained eight points, or 0.4 per cent, to close at 1,900 Friday. That's three points above the index's previous all-time high close 10 days ago. It's up 2.8 per cent for the year.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 63 points, or 0.4 per cent, to 16,606. The Nasdaq composite added 31 points, or 0.8 percent, to 4,185. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 2.53 per cent.
