Stocks finish bumpy week with gains

NEW YORK -- Wall Street closed out a bumpy week with a moderate advance Friday as tech stocks charged higher on takeover news and other sectors gained on data that indicated the economy is expanding at a healthy pace. The major indexes managed to post gains for the week.

Oracle's bid for BEA Systems helped prop up technology stocks, and gave investors renewed hope that acquisition activity is picking up again after the uncertainty of the summer's credit crisis.

Amid the economic data Wall Street was mining Friday for signals about the health of the economy, the government reported that retail sales showed a stronger-than-expected gain last month and that wholesale prices jumped in September amid an increase in food and energy costs. Business inventories increased, while consumer sentiment slipped.

"The data seemed to reinforce that the economy is slowing, but perhaps not as precipitously as feared. And that may put the Fed on hold in October," said Derrick Wulf, portfolio manager at Dwight Asset Management Company. He was referring to the next interest-rate decision by Federal Reserve policymakers, who are scheduled to meet Oct. 30-31.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 77.96, or 0.6%, to 14,093.08.

Broader stock indicators also advanced. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 7.39, or 0.5%, to 1561.80. The tech-dominated Nasdaq composite index rose 33.48, or 1.1%, to 2805.68.

The move higher comes a day after a rally fizzled on Wall Street on concerns about price risks and lowered expectations for the Chinese Internet company Baidu.com. Wall Street's advance on Friday helped lift the major indexes to finish the week in positive territory — the Dow was up 0.2%; the S&P 500 rose 0.3% and the Nasdaq gained 0.9%.

Bonds were slightly lower as fixed-income investors held their positions ahead of the weekend. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves inversely to the price, was up at 4.68% from 4.66% late Thursday.