S&P 500 hits five-year high amid more growth signs
BY Wire reports
Friday, January 11, 2013
1/11/13 at 4:42 AM
The Standard & Poor's 500 closed at a five-year high Thursday after the stock market got a boost from reports suggesting the outlook for economic growth may be improving.
The S&P 500 rose 11.10 points to 1,472.12, its highest close since December 2007, when the U.S. economy was entering the Great Recession. It is now 93 points off its record close of 1,565.15, logged in October 2007.
The Dow Jones industrial average closed up 80.71 points at 13,471.22.
European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said the struggling eurozone should start growing again later this year. The comments bolstered expectations that the worst of the region's crisis may be behind it.
Investors were also cheered by a report that showed China may gradually be emerging from its worst economic downturn since the 2008 global crisis. Chinese export growth rebounded strongly in December.
