How the major stock indexes fared on Wednesday

A drop in unemployment claims and a rise in home sales pulled the stock market higher in light trading ahead of Thanksgiving. Modest gains Wednesday left the Dow Jones industrial average and the Standard & Poor's 500 index at 13-month highs. The economic news, as well as a drop in the dollar, stoked investors' appetite for higher-returning but riskier investments like stocks. For months, investors have been weighing their desire for bigger returns with fears that the stock market will falter if the economy looks like it won't maintain a recovery.

The Dow rose 30.69, or 0.3 percent, to 10,464.40.

The S&P rose 4.98, or 0.5 percent, to 1,110.63.

The Nasdaq composite index rose 6.87, or 0.3 percent, to 2,176.05.

For the week:

The Dow is up 146.24, or 1.4 percent.

The S&P is up 19.25, or 1.8 percent.

The Nasdaq is up 30.01, or 1.4 percent.

For the year:

The Dow is up 1,688.01, or 19.2 percent.

The S&P is up 207.38, or 23.0 percent.

The Nasdaq is up 599.02, or 38.0 percent.

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