New York: US stocks Friday finished an up-and-down week on a high note, posting solid gains on a strong Nike earnings report and a rally in Apple shares.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 167.35 points (0.99 percent) to 17,113.15.
The broad-based S&P 500 gained 16.86 (0.86 percent) to 1,982.85, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index surged 45.45 (1.02 percent) to 4,512.19.
Nike led the Dow, surging 12.2 percent as fiscal first-quarter earnings jumped 23.3 percent to $962 million, besting expectations. Sales gains were especially strong in Western Europe (+32 percent) and China (+18 percent).
Meanwhile, Apple, the biggest US company by market capitalization, bolted 2.9 percent higher, making up most of Thursday`s losses after it released a new version of a software update that had earlier caused glitches in iPhones.
Friday`s trade was the fourth instance in five days this week in which the Dow swung by more than 100 points in a single session.
Art Hogan said the volatility typified the movements near the end of a quarter as investors take profits and square positions.
Janus Capital Group jumped 43.0 percent as it announced it hired bond titan Bill Gross, who built Pimco into the world`s largest bond investor, to manage the recently launched Janus Global Unconstrained Bond Fund.
Yahoo gained 4.4 percent after activist investor Starboard Value called for it to explore a tie-up with online rival AOL, saying a deal could lead to up to $1 billion in savings and lift Yahoo`s value. AOL rose 3.7 percent.
Chipmaker Micron Technology rose 6.7 percent on fourth-quarter earnings of $1.15 billion, up 43 percent from the year-ago level. Analysts were also pleased with the company`s outlook for the upcoming quarter.
General Motors ticked up 0.9 percent after Standard & Poor`s upgraded its credit rating, saying its operating performance "continues to support favorable automative cash flow and profitability."
Canadian smartphone company BlackBerry rose 4.7 percent as it reported an adjusted loss of two cents per share, better than the 11-cent loss forecast by analysts. On Wednesday, the company unveiled its latest product, the Passport smartphone.
Bond prices were mixed. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury rose to 2.54 percent from 2.51 percent Thursday, while the 30-year held steady at 3.22 percent. Bond prices and yields move inversely.
