Investing.com - The S&P 500 index nearly closed above 3,000 Thursday for the first time in four weeks on news that a possible deal for the U.K. to exit the EU has been negotiated and a Turkish agreement for a five-day cease fire in Syria. The S&P 500 moved up 0.28%, finishing just under 2,998 and about one percentage point below its all-time high reached in July. The Dow Jones industrials finished up 0.09%, with the Nasdaq Composite up 0.4%. The modest rally was also boosted by a third-quarter earnings season that continues to be decent. Healthcare, real estate, communications services and industrial stocks led the market higher. Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), up 0.4%, overtook Microsoft as the world's most valuable company with a market capitalization of $1.063 trillion. Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), down 0.5%, saw its market cap drop to $1.058 trillion. The rally lost some steam in the last hour of trading when The Wall Street Journal reported that Saudi Aramco, the state-owned oil giant, was delaying the launch of its long-expected initial public offering again until December or January. Oil futures had risen before the Saudi Aramco news, but were falling in after-hours trading. The Brexit deal negotiated by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson resolved many issues about about the Northern Ireland-Ireland border, but it's not clear if Johnson will have the votes to approve the deal in parliament Saturday.