Stocks finished higher Thursday, closing out the month with the best gain for the S&P 500 index since October 2015. Facebook helped drive the market higher on Thursday after reporting solid user metrics. The S&P 500 index rose 23.05 points, or 0.9 percent, to 2,704.10. Communications, health care and consumer goods and services stocks powered Thursday's market gain as investors remained focused on corporate earnings, which have been mixed. Despite the healthy gain, sales remain 7.7 percent below the pace from a year earlier.

Source: ABC News January 31, 2019 15:34 UTC