Dow And S&P 500 Climb To New Record Closing Highs

(RTTNews) - After coming under pressure in early trading on Friday, stocks showed a substantial turnaround following the latest news regarding the Greek debt negotiations. The gains lifted the Dow and the S&P to new record closing highs, while the Nasdaq reached its best levels since early 2000.

The strength that emerged on Wall Street came on the heels of news that Greece reached a deal with eurozone creditors to extend its bailout agreement for four months.

A statement from the Eurogroup said the extension will give negotiators time to work out a possible follow-up arrangement.

Airline stocks turned in some of the market's best performances on the day, driving the NYSE Arca Airline Index up by 1.6 percent. With the gain, the index reached its best closing level in almost a month.

Hawaiian airlines parent Hawaiian Holdings (HA) and Delta (DAL) posted strong gains, with both climbing by 3.3 percent.

Considerable strength also emerged among biotechnology stocks, as reflected by the 1.4 percent gain posted by the NYSE Arca Biotechnology Index. The gain extended a recent upward move by the index, which reached a record closing high.

Trucking, healthcare, and commercial real estate stocks also saw notable strength, moving higher along with most of the other major sectors.

On the other hand, significant weakness remained visible among oil service stocks, with the Philadelphia Oil Service Index falling by 1.2 percent. The weakness in the sector came as crude for April delivery slid $1.02 to $50.81 a barrel.

The major averages moved roughly sideways going into the close, hovering near their best levels of the day. The Dow jumped 154.67 points or 0.9 percent to 18,140.44, the Nasdaq climbed 31.27 points or 0.6 percent to 4,955.97 and the S&P 500 rose 12.85 points or 0.6 percent to 2,110.30.

With the gains on the day, the major averages all moved higher for the week. The Nasdaq surged up by 1.3 percent, while the Dow and the S&P 500 advanced by 0.7 percent and 0.6 percent, respectively.