Stocks Gain for Third straight Week

U.S. stocks ended modestly higher on Friday as Wall Street racked up a third week of gains while considering global monetary  easing and as finance ministers started a two-day meeting. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 35.87 points, or 0.24%, at  15,118.49. The S&P 500 index gained 7.03 points, or 0.43%, to 1,633.70. The Nasdaq Composite climbed 27.41 points, or 0.80%, to  3,436.58.

The U.S. government ran a budget surplus of $113 billion in April, the Treasury Department reported Friday, $54 billion more  than in the same month a year ago. It was the first monthly surplus since January and the biggest monthly surplus since the  $159 billion budget surplus of April 2008.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on Friday said the U.S. central bank was monitoring for signs of excessive risk-taking,  such as “reaching for yield,” given low interest rates.

A bloodless bank heist that netted more than $45 million has left even cybercrime experts impressed by the technical  sophistication, if not the virtue, of the con artists who pulled off a remarkable internationally organized attack.