S&P 500 index closes at a five-year high

— The Standard & Poor’s 500 index is closing at its highest level in five years as the stock market extends a New Year’s rally.

The S&P 500 closed at 1,466 Friday, the highest since Dec. 31, 2007, before the financial crisis.

That’s a gain of seven points on the day. The index is up 4.6 percent over the past week after lawmakers passed a last-minute budget agreement that avoided a set of drastic tax increases and government spending cuts.

The Dow Jones industrial average ended up 43 points at 13,435. The Nasdaq rose just one point to end at 3,101, held back by a decline in Apple.

Three stocks rose for every one that fell on the New York Stock Exchange. Volume was higher than average at 3.4 billion shares.

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