Retailers keep stocks climbing

Rising retailers pushed U.S. stock indexes further into record territory yesterday, as the market's fabulous start to 2018 carried through its second week. Interest rates also climbed after a report showed that a key component of inflation accelerated last month. But stocks absorbed the gains without a hiccup, unlike earlier in the week when rate worries helped send the Standard & Poor's 500 lower for its lone blemish this year.

The S&P 500 rose

0.7 percent to 2,786.24 yesterday to close out its seventh week of gains in the last eight. The index is already up more than 4 percent for 2018.

The Dow Jones industrial average climbed 0.9 percent; the Nasdaq composite rose 0.7 percent; and the Russell 2000 index of small-cap stocks gained 5.18, or 0.3 percent, to 1,591.97.