S&P 500 finishes at a 5-year high

Admittedly, just about all of the stock market's gains this week came on Wednesday when the Dow Jones industrials ($INDU) jumped 308 points.

But the important point is this: The market did not fall apart Thursday and Friday, which often happens after a huge rally. Especially one set off by a resolution (at least for now) of the fiscal cliff.

One result: The Standard & Poor's 500 Index ($INX) finished at its highest level since Dec. 31, 2007. Another was that the market had its best weekly performance in more than a year.

Maybe the momentum will carry over into next week, when the fourth-quarter earnings season begins.

The S&P 500 ended the day up 7 points to 1,466, surpassing its 2012 high of 1,465.77 set on Sept. 14 and finishing less than two points below the 2007 close of 1,468.36. The index gained 4.6% for the week and 2.8% for the first three days of 2012.

The Dow gained 44 points to 13,435. The Nasdaq Composite Index ($COMPX) added 1 point to 3,102.

For the week, the Dow was up 3.8%, with the Nasdaq pushing 4.8% higher. The weekly gains were the best for the major indexes since the week of Nov. 28, 2011. That week, the Dow soared 7%, with the S&P 500 up 7.4% and the Nasdaq up 7.5%.

For the first three days of the year, the Dow gained 2.5% with the Nasdaq up 2.7%.

Friday's was a modest rally in a big week that also saw gold (-GC) fall for a sixth straight week. That's the longest weekly losing streak since the spring of 2004. Gold settled at $1,648.90 an ounce, down $25.70 on the day and 0.4% for the week.

The metal has fallen about 6% since Nov. 23. It had jumped quickly after President Obama's reelection.

Crude oil (-CL) in New York settled up 17 cents to $93.09, a gain of 2.5% for the week.

Twenty-four of the 30 Dow stocks were higher, led by Alcoa (AA). In addition, 386 S&P 500 stocks were higher, led by Dollar General (DG). And 59 stocks in the Nasdaq-100 Index ($NDX) were higher. Facebook (FB), up 99 cents to $28.76, was the top performer in the index, which tracks the largest Nasdaq stocks. Apple (AAPL)was the laggard, down $15.10 to $527.

The week ahead marks the start of earnings season. Alcoa, which reports after Tuesday's close, is the unofficial start to the season.

Also reporting next week are: Monsanto (MON) on Tuesday, Ruby Tuesday (RT) on Wednesday and Wells Fargo (WFC) on Friday.