S&P 500 closes at a record high, beating '07 mark

Index rises above record closing from October 2007 and keeps going

Specialist Mario Picone, left, works with traders at his post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Renewed jitters about Europe's debt crisis sent world stock markets lower today.

NEW YORK —The stock market has reached another milestone.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index closed at a record high today, beating the mark it set in October, 2007, a year before the peak of the financial crisis.

The S&P rose six points to 1,569, a gain of 0.4 percent, beating its previous record by four points. The index is still shy of its all-time trading high of 1,576.

The Dow Jones industrial average, which beat its own 2007 record three weeks ago, rose 52 points, or 0.4 percent, to 14,578.

The Nasdaq composite rose 11 points, or 0.3 percent, to 3,267.

Nearly two stocks rose for every one that fell on the New York Stock Exchange.

Volume was relatively light at 3.2 billion shares. Markets will be closed for Good Friday.