Dow, S&P 500 indexes close at record highs as a market rally continues

FILE - This Aug. 9, 2011 file photo shows a Wall Street street sign near the New York Stock Exchange, in New York. U.S. stock indexes are opening mostly higher Monday, Dec. 22, 2014, as the market builds on its big gains from last week. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File) (The Associated Press)

Stocks are back at record highs as the market posts its fourth gain in a row.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 154 points, or 0.9 percent, to 17,959 Monday, narrowly beating the record high it set two weeks ago by about half a point.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose seven points, or 0.4 percent, to 2,078. It was the 50th closing high for the S&P 500 this year.

The Nasdaq rose sixteen points, or 0.3 percent, to 4,781.

The market is coming off a big advance last week, which gave the S&P 500 its second-biggest weekly gain this year.

Benchmark U.S. crude fell $1.26 to close at $55.26 a barrel in New York.

Bond prices rose. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 2.16 percent.