Stocks closed at record levels on Friday as the price of oil jumped again, giving a lift to energy stocks.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 8.5 points, or 0.4 percent, to 2,097, an all-time high. The Dow Jones industrial average was up 47 points, or 0.3 percent, at 18,019. The Dow is still a few points short of its all-time high of 18,103.

The Nasdaq composite gained 36 points, or 0.8 percent, to 4,893, about 1 percent away from its all-time high of 5,049 reached during the dot-com bubble.

"Stocks closed at record highs, pointing the way for further gains next week," Rob Williams, deputy editor of Moneynews.com, said on "The Steve Malzberg Show" on Newsmax.TV. "The biggest worry is trading volume has fallen with these new highs, indicating that major institutional investors aren't buying into this rally."

Story continues below video of NewsmaxTV's market commentary.

CBS gained after reporting earnings that exceeded analyst's expectations. The media company got a boost from better advertising revenue. Clothing company V.F. Corporation, whose brands include Wrangler and Timberland, gained after giving investors an upbeat outlook for the year.

ConAgra, a food company whose brands include Swiss Miss hot chocolate mix and Slim Jim beef jerky, slumped after the company cut its earnings outlook for the year, blaming the impact of the higher dollar among other factors.

European stocks climbed after Greece and its European creditors said they were willing to compromise to help Athens with its debts, while new data showed improvement in the eurozone economy.

CBS gained $1.84, or 3.2 percent, to $59.62 after the media company reported earnings late Thursday that were slightly better than Wall Street analysts had been expecting. The company got a boost from higher advertising revenues, led by the broadcast of "Thursday Night Football" and political ad revenues associated with the midterm elections.

Food company ConAgra, whose brands include Swiss Miss hot chocolate mix and Slim Jim beef jerky, dropped $1.62, or 4.4 percent, to $34.81. The company cut its earnings outlook for the year late Thursday, blaming the impact of a stronger dollar and intense competition for its Private Brands unit.

Greece and its creditors in the 19-country eurozone took visible, if modest, steps to bridge their differences over Athens' demands to lighten the load of its bailout. Following weeks of haggling, the two sides sounded willing to compromise and agreed to start technical discussions to analyze each side's requests ahead of another meeting Monday. Investors are hopeful that a deal will be reached to avoid Greece's exit from the euro.

Data out Friday showed the eurozone economy picked up speed in the fourth quarter thanks to better growth in Germany and Spain. The currency union's economy grew 0.3 percent in the October-December period compared with the previous quarter, more than expected, thanks also to lower oil prices and a weaker euro. The growth rate, while encouraging, is still only about half that of the U.S.

Germany's DAX added 0.4 percent to 10,963 after touching a record high, while France's CAC 40 rose 0.7 percent to 4,759. Britain's FTSE 100 gained 0.7 percent to 6,873.

Benchmark U.S. crude rose $1.57 to $52.78 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude climbed $1.98 to $61.24 a barrel in London.

In U.S. government bond trading, prices fell slightly. The yield on the 10-year benchmark government note edged up to 2.02 percent from 1.99 percent on Tuesday.

The dollar was little changed against the Japanese yen and the euro. The dollar traded at 118.75 yen, down from 118.85 yen the previous day. The euro was flat at $1.1406.

Precious and industrial metals futures closed higher. Gold rose $6.40 to $1,227.10 an ounce, silver jumped 50 cents to $17.29 an ounce and copper edged up less than a penny to $2.61 a pound.