Wall Street hits new highs on bank earnings, economic optimism

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wall Street continued its rally on Friday with record closing highs as fourth-quarter earnings season kicked off with solid results from banks and robust retail sales drove investor optimism about economic growth.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 228.46 points, or 0.89 percent, to 25,803.19, the S&P 500 gained 18.67 points, or 0.67 percent, to 2,786.23 and the Nasdaq Composite added 49.29 points, or 0.68 percent, to 7,261.06.

(Reporting by Sinead Carew; Editing by Nick Zieminski)