S&P's consumer discretionary sector rose to a record high Thursday, as most major averages continued to post strong gains.
Since the beginning of 2012, the NASDAQ Composite has risen about 8 percent, followed by the S&P 500 and Dow, up 5 and 4.7 percent, respectively.
The consumer discretionary sector , which has an index weighting of 11 percent, is up about 6.5 percent this year — the fifth best-performing sector in the S&P .
By midday Thursday, the sector traded as high as 331.19. The previous record of 330.07 was reached on July 7.
Netflix , which posted a loss of 61 percent in 2011, is now the top-performing stock in the S&P 500, with a gain of 67 percent in the last 17 trading sessions.Â
*Kristen Scholer contributed to this report.
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