Market report

Bank stocks gain, help lift indexes

NEW YORK -- Stocks rose Friday to end their strongest week in almost three months.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 44.93 points, or 0.3 percent, to 17,873.22. The Standard & Poor's 500 index added 8.96 points, or 0.4 percent, to 2,099.06. The Nasdaq composite index picked up 31.74 points, or 0.6 percent, to 4,933.50.

Stocks turned higher over the last few hours of trading to finish at their highest levels of the day. Banks made the largest gains, as they stand to make bigger profits on lending if interest rates rise further. Phone companies traded higher after Verizon reportedly agreed in principle to a new contract with striking employees. Alphabet led technology stocks higher.

Federal Reserve Chairman Janet Yellen said Friday that it will be "appropriate" to raise interest rates in the next few months if the economy continues to improve, and she emphasized that the Fed will move slowly and carefully. There were signs of that improvement throughout the week, including increased home sales, leading to big gains for stocks. And on Friday, the Commerce Department said the U.S. economy grew a bit more in the first quarter than it previously estimated.

The agency said the gross domestic product grew 0.8 percent in the first three months of the year, above its original estimate of 0.5 percent. That's still sluggish, but experts think the economy will grow about 2 percent in the current quarter.

Bank stocks were led higher by Bank of America, which rose 18 cents, or 1.2 percent, to $14.88, and Citigroup, which picked up 47 cents, or 1 percent, to $46.58. Bank stocks have struggled this year because the Fed has pushed back plans to raise rates.

On Friday, bond prices dipped and yields rose, another sign investors expect interest rates to increase. The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note rose to 1.85 percent from 1.83 percent. The yield on the Treasury note is closely tied to interest rates.

Google's parent company Alphabet rose after a federal jury said the company did not need permission to use tools made by Oracle when it built its Android software. Oracle said Google stole its intellectual property and sought $9 billion in damages, and it plans to appeal the ruling. Alphabet stock added $10.67, or 1.4 percent, to $747.60.

Benchmark U.S. crude oil fell 15 cents to $49.33 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, which is used to price international oils, fell 27 cents to $49.32 a barrel in London.

Scientific-equipment-maker Thermo Fisher said it will buy electron microscope maker FEI for $107.50 per share in cash, or about $4.2 billion. The deal comes about two months after Thermo Fisher paid $1.3 billion to buy Affymetrix, a company that makes equipment to analyze genetic codes. FEI stock climbed $13.55, or 14.3 percent, to $108.13, and Thermo Fisher added 93 cents to $152.13.

The price of gold fell $6.60 to $1,213.80 an ounce. Gold has slipped about 5 percent over the past two weeks. Silver fell 7 cents to $16.27 an ounce. Copper rose 1 cent to $2.11 a pound.

Germany's DAX and the FTSE 100 in Britain both rose 0.1 percent, and France's CAC 40 gained a bit less than that. Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 index added 0.4 percent.

Business on 05/28/2016

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