Stocks Rally, End Positive for the Week

U.S. stocks closed sharply higher on Friday and posted modest gains for the week as risk appetite returned after news reports that Russia ended military exercises on the Ukrainian border. The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 185.66 points, or 1.13%, to 16,553.93, gaining 0.3% over the week. The S&P 500 added 22.02 points, or 1.15%, to 1,931.59 and finished the week 0.3% higher.  The Nasdaq Composite gained 35.93 points, or 0.83%, to 4,370.90 and recorded a 0.4% weekly gain.

America’s most widely used credit-scoring system is being revised to reduce the negative effect of overdue medical bills and to quit penalizing consumers who pay off debts that had been assigned to collection agencies. The changes to the hugely influential FICO scoring system could make it easier for millions of Americans to get loans at lower rates and eventually save consumers billions of dollars.

Patrick penned a letter to the board of directors of the company Friday offering to lend a hand to solve the dispute that has left supermarket shelves empty and many employees without paychecks, the Boston Globe reports.

McDonald’s (MCD) gave warning earlier this week that the food-safety problems that arose in mid-July in China would have a “significant negative impact” on sales, certain to harm performance in Asia and likely to drag down global numbers for the year.

A new study shows that United ranks as the overall worst performing airline in the U.S. for the third year in a row, but Delta (DAL) is top of the list when it comes to such metrics as fewest cancelled flights, most on-time arrivals and the least number of mishandled bags.