Encouraging signs send stocks higher

Associated Press

NEW YORK

Stocks made modest gains Friday as encouraging signs on the economy overshadowed disappointing earnings from Google and Bank of America.

Stock indexes closed lower for the week. The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 117 points Tuesday when Japan raised the severity of its nuclear crisis and Alcoa Inc. reported disappointing sales.

The Federal Reserve reported that U.S. factories increased production for the ninth-straight month. Separately, the Labor Department said consumer prices rose just 0.1 percent last month excluding food and gas prices. That’s lower than the 0.2 percent increase economists were expecting.

Consumers’ confidence in the economy also is growing more than analysts predicted, according to a survey by Thomas Reuters and the University of Michigan.

Bond prices rose as the Labor Department report eased concerns about inflation. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 3.41 percent from 3.51 percent late Thursday. Bond yields fall when their prices rise.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 56.68 points, or 0.5 percent, to 12,341.83. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 5.16 points, or 0.4 percent, to 1,319.68.

The Nasdaq composite gained 4.43, or 0.2 percent, to 2,764.65.

Google Inc. weighed on technology stocks after the company said it missed earnings estimates.