The Dow and S&P 500 gained to finish at five-year highs in choppy trading Tuesday, ahead of President Barack Obama's State of the Union address later this evening.

With the Dow's move higher, the blue-chip average is now about 1 percent from its all-time record close of 14,164.53 hit on October 9, 2007. The Dow is up more than 7 percent so far in 2013.

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The Dow Jones Industrial Average [ .DJI 15307.17  -80.41 (-0.52%) ] rose 47.46 points, or 0.34 percent, to close at 14,018.70, led by Bank of America.

The S&P 500 [ .SPX 1655.35  -13.81 (-0.83%) ] added 2.42 points, or 0.16 percent, to finish at 1,519.43. The Nasdaq [ .IXIC 3463.30  -38.82 (-1.11%) ] slid 5.51 points, or 0.17 percent, to end at 3,186.49.

The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX), widely considered the best gauge of fear in the market, ended below 13.

Among key S&P sectors, financials climbed to a fresh four-year high, while techs finished in the red. S&P financial stocks that hit new multi-year highs include T.Rowe Price [ TROW 77.73  -0.89 (-1.13%) ], American Express [ AXP 74.44  -0.67 (-0.89%) ] and AIG [ AIG 44.31  -0.65 (-1.45%) ].