The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose above its record closing high Wednesday as investors purchased shares of financial and technology companies. The S&P 500 was up 0.6 percent in early afternoon trade, slightly above its closing high reached on December 31. The Dow Jones industrial average and the technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index each were up 0.7 percent. Bank stocks rose after Bank of America reported that its profit jumped in the fourth quarter, and technology stocks also were higher, with Apple and Microsoft each rising more than 2 percent.
