Stocks End with Weekly Gain on Strong Earnings

U.S. stocks rose Friday, with S&P 500 closing at a record high for the second session, as positive earnings from Google, Morgan Stanley and others lifted investor sentiment. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 28.00 points, or 0.18%, at 15,399.65. The S&P 500 index added 11.35 points, or 0.65%, to 1,744.50. The Nasdaq Composite climbed 51.13 points, or 1.32%, to 3,914.28.

Google shares soared above $1,000 a share early Friday as investors cheered the company’s latest quarterly report. The stock surged nearly 14% to end at $1,011.41 a share, well above Google’s previous all-time high of $928 set in July.

JPMorgan Chase & Co has reached a tentative $4 billion deal with the U.S. Federal Housing Finance Agency to settle claims that the bank misled government-sponsored mortgage agencies about the quality of mortgages it sold to them during the housing boom, the Wall Street Journal reported on its website on Friday.

The dollar fell to eight-and-a-half-month lows against the euro and a currency basket on Friday on expectations the Federal Reserve will delay scaling back its monetary stimulus following this month’s political battles over the U.S. budget.

The New York Stock Exchange isn’t taking any chances with Twitter’s initial public offering. The Big Board said Friday it would allow trading firms to conduct a dry run of their systems to prepare for Twitter’s IPO.