Banks Lift Stocks as S&P 500 Nears Record

Stocks closed broadly higher on Wall Street, giving the S&P 500 index its third weekly gain in a row and putting it within reach of the record high it hit last September, the AP reports. Banks led the gains Friday after JPMorgan Chase reported a strong quarter, helped by higher interest rates. The country's largest bank by assets rose 4.7%, and other banks also rose. Disney soared 11.5% after unveiling a new video streaming service to go up against Netflix, the industry leader. Netflix fell 4.5%. The S&P 500 rose 19 points, or 0.7%, to 2,907. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 269 points, or 1%, to 26,412. The Nasdaq rose 36 points, or 0.5%, to 7,984. Bond prices fell, and the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury rose to 2.56%. (More stock market stories.)