NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street ended an extraordinary and record-setting week yesterday by surging higher again, sending the Standard & Poor's 500 index past a trading high set in March 2000 and thrusting the Dow Jones industrial past 13,900 for the first time.Both the S&P and the Dow logged record closes for the second straight day and the Dow's gains put the blue chip index within about 70 points of 14,000. But the technology-laden Nasdaq composite index lagged both in yesterday's session as it has in the broader recovery from the dot-com collapse at the start of the decade.

In a week that saw the Dow swing more than 450 points and rise 283 points in Thursday's session alone, investors grappled with unease over soured subprime loans and the broader economy before casting off such concerns and bidding stocks higher amid signs the consumer might yet again pull through and give Wall Street reason to climb higher.

Yesterday, investors still seemed upbeat about earnings and takeover activity and appeared only slightly disappointed by the Commerce Department's report that retail sales dropped 0.9 percent last month, following a revised 1.5 percent jump in May. The June figure was weaker than anticipated and marked the steepest decline in nearly two years.

"I think investors are overstating their moves on a day-to-day basis but over the long term we continue to trend upward," said Brian Levitt, corporate economist at OppenheimerFunds Inc. "I think that is reasonable given the strong global quality picture and the strong global growth picture."

The Dow rose 45.52, or 0.33 percent, to 13,907.25 after reaching a new trading high of 13,932.29.

Relief that Alcoa won't pursue a deal with Alcan Inc. helped the Dow yesterday, as did solid quarterly results from GE, which sent the conglomerate's stock above the $40 mark and to a five-year high.

Broader stock indicators also advanced. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 4.80, or 0.31 percent, to 1,552.50. The index late in yesterday's session set a fresh trading high of 1,555.10, topping a previous record of 1,553.11 set in March 2000. The Nasdaq composite index gained 5.27, or 0.20 percent, to 2,707.00 after spending much of the session moderately lower. Though the Nasdaq was trading at levels not seen since early 2001, the index remains well short of its closing record of 5,048.62, set in March 2000 when it was bloated by the late 1990s tech boom.

Yesterday, an upbeat report on the mood of consumers released after trading began seemed to inject the market with additional confidence. The Reuters/University of Michigan index of consumer sentiment increased to 92.4 for mid-July from 85.3 in June.

The reading follows a session in which the stock market surged after strong sales reports from a few US retailers gave investors a reason to be optimistic about consumer spending and the upcoming deluge of second-quarter earnings results. The S&P had its biggest one-day percentage gain in a year on Thursday and the Dow, which rose 283 points, had its best percentage increase since October 2003.

Investors abroad were also in a buying mood Friday. In European trading, Germany's DAX index of blue chip stocks hit a new all-time high, breaking through a seven-year-old record. The DAX finished up 0.49 percent. Elsewhere, Britain's FTSE 100 rose 0.28 percent and France's CAC-40 rose 0.24 percent.

Treasury bond prices rose, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year note falling to 5.10 percent from 5.13 percent late on Thursday. The dollar was mixed against other major currencies and still trading at a record low versus the euro and 26-year low against the British pound. Gold prices fell.

Light, sweet crude rose $1.43 to $73.93 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Buyout activity — or the possibility of further deals — appeared to help buoy stocks yesterday and perhaps helped stave off a pullback. Often after big jumps in stocks, investors are tempted to cash in gains and stand back as the market consolidates. But a Standard & Poor's analyst said that after Rio Tinto's bid for aluminium producer Alcan beat out Alcoa's offer, Alcoa is now a more attractive takeover target. Alcan slipped 95 cents to $97.50, while Alcoa jumped $2.06, or 4.6 percent, to $47.35, making it the best performer among the 30 stocks that make up the Dow industrials.