S&P 500 set to toast one of its best years

US STOCKS finished the last full trading week of 2013 near record highs, and another gain this week will complete one of the best years for the broad market in history.

The Standard & Poor's 500 was up 29 per cent for the year at the close of trading on Friday, sitting at 1,841 points. The gauge, which is finance professionals' favourite measure of the US market, has not had a year that strong since 1997, when it rose 31 per cent. If the S&P 500 can match that performance and rise a further 2 per cent today and on Tuesday, 2013 would be one of the five best years for stock investors since World War II.

The main driver of those gains has been the acceleration of the US economic recovery, with the latest boost coming in the form of the Dec 20 upward revision to third-quarter gross domestic product growth. This week's Standard & Poor's Case Shiller home price index, a manufacturing survey and weekly jobless claims will likely emulate positive surprises in home sales, durable goods orders and jobs data last week.