Stock end February on New Record High: On February 28, the S&P 500 settled at a new record close of 1,859.45 and a gain of 1.26% on the week, even with growing concerns about Russian military action in Ukraine.  The Dow stood at 16,321.71 after a 1.36% weekly advance; the NASDAQ ended the week at 4,308.12 with a 5-day gain of 1.05%

NASDAQ ADDS TO YTD GAINS: the tech-heavy benchmark rose 0.46% during this past abbreviated trading week, wrapping up Friday at 4,263.41; in contrast, the Dow and S&P 500 each slipped a bit over four days. After a 0.32% weekly loss, the Dow stood at 16,103.30. The S&P settled Friday at 1,836.25, losing 0.13% on the week.

Stocks really turned around last week, as these five-day index performances attest: DJIA, +2.45% to 16,154.39; NASDAQ, +2.83% to 4,244.02; S&P 500, +2.46% to 1,838.63.

Investors bought back into stocks Thursday and Friday, offsetting last Monday’s major plunge. That resulted in the following weekly performances: DJIA, +0.61% to 15,794.08; NASDAQ, +0.54% to 4,125.86; S&P 500, +0.81% to 1,797.02.

As expected, the Federal Reserve announced last week that it would reduce its monthly bond purchases by another $10 billion starting in February. Wall Street struggled for most of the week, with the 5-day performances as follows: DJIA, -1.13% to 15,698.85; NASDAQ, -0.59% to 4,103.88; S&P 500, -0.43% to 1,782.59.

Weak manufacturing data from China and an exit from emerging market currencies triggered a 2-day global sell-off at the end of last week. The Argentine peso dropped 15% in 5 days, and the Russian ruble, South African rand and Brazil real also slumped. As a result, the DJIA had its poorest week in more than 2 years (-3.52%). The Nasdaq lost 1.65% for the week while the S&P 500 fell 2.63%. At the close Friday, here was where the big three stood: S&P, 1,790.29; DJIA, 15,879.11; NASDAQ, 4,128.17.

Thanks to a 0.55% 5-day advance, the tech-heavy Nasdaq became the first of the big three to go positive so far for 2014. The Dow gained 0.13% last week; the S&P 500 retreated 0.20%. Friday, the indices settled as follows: DJIA, 16,458.56; NASDAQ, 4,197.58; S&P, 1,838.70.

The first full trading week of 2014 brought 5-day gains for the S&P 500 (0.60%) and Nasdaq (1.03%) but a 0.20% pullback for the Dow. Friday, the big three closed as follows: DJIA, 16,437.05; NASDAQ, 4,174.67; S&P, 1,842.37.

Speaking in Philadelphia Friday, Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke asserted that the economy has made “considerable progress”, and that there are “grounds for cautious optimism abroad.” His remarks didn’t give stocks much of a lift to end the week. From December 30-January 3, the S&P 500 lost 0.54%, the Dow 0.05% and the Nasdaq 0.59%. The closing prices Friday: Dow, 16,469.99; Nasdaq, 4,131.91; S&P, 1,831.37.

A short trading week saw the S&P 500 advancing another 1.27% to 1,841.40, the Dow climbing 1.59% to 16,478.41 and the NASDAQ gaining 1.26% to 4,156.59

S&P 500 HAS BEST WEEK SINCE MID-OCTOBER - the broad benchmark closed at 1,818.55 Friday, gaining 2.44% in five days. Weekly gains for the DJIA (2.96%) and NASDAQ (2.59%) were even greater. The NASDAQ wrapped up the week at 4,104.74, the DJIA at 16,221.72.

Signals of an improving economy also brought worries about a December taper by the Federal Reserve. As a consequence, the S&P 500 (-1.65% to 1,775.32), NASDAQ (-1.51% to 4,000.98) and Dow (-1.65% to 15,755.36) all staged 5-day retreats