Strong sales during the post-Christmas season following positive data from the market have helped push Dow and S&P 500 higher.

Retail stocks rose this holiday season as data from MasterCard Advisors SpendingPulse showed that sales rose 2.3 per cent between 1 November and 24 December, 2013. The strong data has dismissed suggestions that the retail market has remained weak this year.

The S&P retail index rose 0.8 per cent while Urban Outfitters was among the highest gainer in the index with a rise of 2.2 per cent to $37.55. Online retailer Amazon. com rose 1.3 per cent to $404.39. The shares of world's biggest retailer, Wal-Mart Stores rose 0.5 per cent to $78.39.

The Dow Jones industrial average jumped 122.33 points, or 0.75 per cent to 16,479.88 while The Standard & Poor's 500 Index gained 8.70 points, or 0.47 per cent to 1,842.02 as both recorded record closing figures. The Nasdaq Composite Index increased 11.76 points, or 0.28 per cent to close at 4,167.18.

The Dow rose to a record closing high for the sixth straight session and the S&P 500 recorded a new closing high for the fourth time.