Dow passes 13,900; gains 295.57 on week

NEW YORK -- Wall Street ended an extraordinary and record-setting week Friday by surging higher again, sending the Standard & Poor's 500 index past a trading high set in March 2000 and thrusting the Dow Jones industrial past 13,900 for the first time.

Both the S&P and the Dow logged record closes for the second straight day and the Dow's new trading high put the blue chip index within about 70 points of 14,000. But the technology-laden Nasdaq composite index showed more modest advances in Friday's session and remained far from its record levels seen early in the decade.

In a week that saw the Dow swing more than 450 points, including a gain of 283 points in Thursday's session alone, investors grappled with unease over soured subprime loans and the broader economy before casting off such concerns and bidding stocks higher amid signs consumers might yet again pull through and give Wall Street reason to climb higher.

On Friday, investors seemed upbeat about earnings and takeover activity and appeared only slightly disappointed by the Commerce Department's report that retail sales dropped 0.9 percent last month, following a 1.5 percent jump in May. The June figure was weaker than anticipated and marked the steepest decline in nearly two years.

The Dow rose 45.52, or 0.33 percent, to 13,907.25 after reaching a new trading high of 13,932.29.

For the week, the Dow rose 295.57 points, or about 2.2 percent. Its three-day gain following sharp losses Tuesday was the Dow's biggest percentage increase since a rise of 3.17 percent over three sessions in May 2005 and its biggest point gain since early 2003, when the Dow added 405.74 points.

Broader stock indicators also advanced Friday. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 4.80, or 0.31 percent, to 1,552.50. The index late in Friday's session set a fresh trading high of 1,555.10, topping a previous record of 1,553.11 set in March 2000. The S&P added 1.4 percent for the week.

The Nasdaq composite index gained 5.27, or 0.20 percent, to 2,707.00 after spending much of the session moderately lower; the week's gain totaled 1.5 percent. Though the Nasdaq was trading at levels not seen since early in the decade, the index remains well short of its closing record of 5,048.62, set in March 2000 when it was bloated by the late 1990s tech boom.