While the day 's trading was lackluster , the Standard & Poor 's 500 index was preparing to close out its best three-month period since the fourth quarter of 1998 .
While the day 's trading was lackluster , the Standard & Poor 's 500 index was preparing to close out its best three-month period since the fourth quarter of 1998 .
The Standard & Poor 's 500 stock index ended the quarter up 120 points , a gain of 14 percent , the best performance for that broad market benchmark since 1998 .