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 <.DJI> rose 228.46 points, or 0.89 percent, to 25,803.19, the S&P 500 <.SPX> gained 18.67 points, or 0.67 percent, to 2,786.23 and the Nasdaq Composite <.IXIC> added 49.29 points, or 0.68 percent, to 7,261.06.

(Reporting by Sinead Carew; Editing by Nick Zieminski)