NEW YORK (AP) - The Standard and Poor's 500 index climbed to another five-year high after strong reports on housing starts and unemployment claims made investors more optimistic about the U.S. economy. The S&P 500 gained 8.31 points to close at 1,480.94, its highest level since December 2007. The Dow Jones industrial average also rose, climbing to a five-year high during the day, before falling back to finish 84.79 points higher at 13,596.02. The Nasdaq composite climbed 18.46 points to 3,136. The S&P 500's homebuilding index climbed 3.8 percent, its biggest gain in almost a month. PulteGroup led the advance with a jump of $1.03, or 5.3 percent, to $20.37. The reports helped offset disappointment over the fourth-quarter earnings reports of two of the nation's biggest banks, Citigroup and Bank of America, said JJ Kinahan, chief derivatives strategist at TD Ameritrade. Citigroup fell $1.24, or 2.9 percent, to $41.24 after its income fell well short of Wall Street's expectations. Bank of America dropped 50 cents, or 4.2 percent, to $11.28 after its earnings declined. Kim Caughey Forrest, a senior analyst at Fort Pitt Capital Group, said it was too early to conclude that the housing market had turned the corner. She noted that a large "shadow inventory" of houses that still need to be foreclosed on may weigh on house prices in the coming months. "This rally is probably a little bit too optimistic for the information that we got," Caughey Forrest said. There's some conflicting information here and the market has just decided to overlook the negative thing. The indexes powered higher even as more discouraging news about manufacturing came out. The Philadelphia branch of the Federal Reserve reported that manufacturing contracted this month in the mid-Atlantic region. On Tuesday, the Fed's New York branch reported that manufacturing in its own district was worsening. The Dow and the S&P 500 are both up 3.8 percent since the start of January. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note, which moves inversely to its price, rose four basis points to 1.88 percent. EBay rose $1.27, or 2.4 percent, to $54.17 after reporting fourth-quarter earnings that exceeded analysts' expectations. Bargain-hunting holiday shoppers flocked to eBay's online shopping mall and digital payment service, PayPal. CBS surged $3.01, or 7.9 percent, to $40.95 after the media company said late Wednesday that it was converting its U.S. outdoor advertising business to a real estate investment trust and selling the international portion of the business. Deutsche Bank analysts lifted their target price on the stock to $47 from $40, saying the conversion to a REIT "meaningfully enhances value." BlackRock gained $9.76, or 4.4 percent, to $232 after the investment manager said its fourth-quarter net income surged, beating analysts' forecasts. The company also increased its dividend and said it may buy back more stock.