Stocks close strong week with big advance

NEW YORK -- Stocks topped off a strong week with a big rally Friday, after results from companies like Citigroup and Google helped ease investor anxiety about the health of corporate profits. All the major indexes posted gains of more than 4% for the week.

Investors have been worried that recent data indicate a slowing economy, which would cut into profit growth at some of the nation's biggest companies. But, results so far have shown that earnings, for the most part, are meeting or beating expectations.

Citigroup, the nation's biggest bank, encouraged investors with results that didn't contain any big surprises. The New York-based bank reported a loss of $5.1 billion during the first quarter because of poor bets on mortgages and leveraged loans, but the loss was half the $10 billion recorded for the preceding quarter.

Google helped boost investor sentiment, as well as the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index, by reporting first-quarter earnings and revenue growth that handily topped analysts' predictions.

"This is the first week of earnings reports, and the marquee companies in general have been able to report good earnings, and the banks have been able to raise capital, and the market is responding to that," said Subodh Kumar, global investment strategist at Subodh Kumar & Assoc. in Toronto.

The Dow Jones industrial average jumped 228.87, or 1.81%, to 12,849.36.

Broader stock indicators also showed sizable advances. The Standard & Poor's 500 index increased 24.77, or 1.81%, to 1,390.33, and the Nasdaq rose 61.14, or 2.61%, to 2,402.97.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by more than 3 to 1 on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to 1.48 billion shares compared with 1.23 billion shares traded Thursday.

The gains come at the end of a big week for stocks. After a quiet start to the week, the major indexes surged more than 2% Wednesday after JPMorgan Chase, Intel and Coca-Cola reported better-than-expected profits. Stocks then finished mixed Thursday, largely holding their gains. For the week, the Dow rose 4.25%, the S&P 500 gained 4.31% and the Nasdaq jumped 4.92%.