US stocks rose, driving the Standard & Poor's 500 Index to its biggest weekly gain since September, after new reports showed growing confidence among consumers and higher demand for semiconductor equipment.
General Electric Co, whose interests include broadcasting, plastics, airplane engines, and home mortgages, led the advance.
"People sense there's a recovery out there not too far down the road," said Joe DeMarco, head of trading at HSBC Asset Management Americas Inc, which oversees about US$12 billion.
The S&P 500 rose 8.36, or 0.8 percent, to 1,106.59. Drug stocks, including Pfizer Inc, accounted for 40 percent of the gain. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 63.87, or 0.6 percent, to 10,353.08. The NASDAQ Composite Index climbed 10.95, or 0.6 percent, to 1,741.39, closing its best week in 13 months.
For the week, the S&P 500 rose 4.9 percent, the most since the week ended Sept. 28. The Dow gained 4.2 percent. The NASDAQ climbed 8.8 percent. Stocks gained for the first week in four.
Indexes got a boost from an unexpected rise in the University of Michigan's consumer confidence poll. Investors said the survey's rise to a 1 1/2-year high fit with other signs this week pointing to a quickening recovery. They cited better-than-expected retail sales and data showing the chip industry is rebounding.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc, Dell Computer Corp and Applied Materials Inc. also reported better-than-expected profits or sales this week.
About six stocks rose for every five that fell on the New York Stock Exchange and the NASDAQ Stock Market. Some 1.25 billion shares traded on the Big Board, 4 percent below the three-month daily average.
General Electric added the most to the S&P 500, gaining US$1.45 to US$33.45 and capping a 9.1 percent gain this week. Chief Executive Jeffrey Immelt said this week that the plastics and broadcast businesses, the most sensitive to swings in the economy, are picking up.
Drug stocks were the day's best-performing S&P 500 group, rebounding from losses earlier this week. Schering-Plough Corp.
rose US$1.37 to US$26.12 after settling regulators' complaints over manufacturing deficiencies at plants in New Jersey and Puerto Rico. The drugmaker will pay a record US$500 million fine.
Abbott Laboratories rose US$1.85 to US$47.60, cutting its weekly loss to 7.1 percent. Pfizer gained US$1.27 to US$37.09, and Merck & Co jumped US$1.53 to US$58.13.
Intel Corp, the biggest maker of computer microprocessors, added US$0.43 to US$31.20, for a weekly advance of 16 percent. An industry group said orders for semiconductor manufacturing equipment exceeded shipments in April for a second month.
The so-called book-to-bill reinforced a report from Applied Materials earlier this week. The biggest maker of chip equipment said orders rose more than expected.
DaimlerChrysler AG gained US$1.71 to US$49.51. Chrysler, the US unit of the world's fifth largest carmaker, said it plans overtime at eight plants next week after a dealer survey showed US auto sales rose the first two weeks of this month.
Dell rose 10 cents to US$27.95, for a gain this week of 17 percent. The second-biggest maker of personal computers forecast second-quarter earnings of 18 cents a share on sales of US$8.2 billion, compared with analysts' estimate for profit of US$0.17 on revenue of US$8 billion.
"There have been enough positive earnings announcements to suggest the bottom has been put in," said Jerry Castellini, who manages US$1.2 billion as president of CastleArk Management in Chicago.
Wal-Mart rose 8.7 percent this week after reporting on Tuesday that profit in the quarter ended April 30 rose 20 percent, the most in two years. Kohl's Corp jumped US$4.20 to US$77.75, capping a 12 percent advance this week.
Phone stocks including Verizon Communications Inc were Friday's biggest losers. BellSouth Corp, which serves customers in nine southeastern US states, said it will fire as many as 5,000 employees to cut costs, resulting in a charge against earnings of US$250 million to US$350 million.
Even with declines Friday, the S&P 500's broadest index of phone companies gained 8.7 percent this week, the most since January 2001.
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