The threat of terrorism and a possible rise in interest rates did little to stop the bulls on Wall Street this week.
The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 3.3 percent Friday to finish its best week of the year. The Dow Jones industrial average and Nasdaq Composite index also finished strong.
Economists pointed to strong gains by several popular discount retailers and a rally in tech stocks for the markets' strong week.
They also said investors expected the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates soon and were no longer uneasy about the idea.
