Stocks Surged on Manufacturing Data

U.S. stocks surged Friday after an upbeat measure of U.S. manufacturing propelled Wall Street to what looks like its best week this year.  The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 168.43 points, or 1.36%, to 12,582.77, up 5.4% for the week. Up 5.6% from last Friday’s close, the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index climbed 19.03 points, or 1.44%, to 1,339.67. The Nasdaq Composite Index added 42.51 points, or 1.53%, to 2,816.03, up 6.2% from the week-ago finish.

Activity at the nation’s manufacturing firms accelerated in June, according to a closely followed survey of top executives released Friday, data which eased fears about the health of the U.S. economy. The Institute for Supply Management manufacturing index rose to 55.3% in June from the 53.5% in May.

Consumer sentiment declined in June as expectations about the economy fell, according to the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan survey released Friday. The consumer-sentiment gauge fell to 71.5 at the end of June from 74.3 in May

Zynga Inc. filed for an initial public offering Friday that has the social gaming company seeking to raise as much as $1 billion from investors to continue to build out its booming business.