Dow Jones has best week since July

Stocks rose for the third straight day Friday, capping the best week for the Dow Jones industrial average since July.

The government said the economy grew at a 3.1 percent annual rate in the fourth quarter of 2010. That's slightly better than economists expected and higher than the estimate made last month.

Technology shares rose after business software giant Oracle Corp. reported a 78 percent jump in income late Thursday. Oracle credited new software license sales and the benefit of three full months of revenue from Sun Microsystems, a company it acquired last year.

The Dow rose 50.03 points, or 0.4 percent, to close at 12,220.59. It gained 362 points for the week, the most since a 512-point jump during the week ending July 9. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 4.14, or 0.3 percent, to 1,313.80. The Nasdaq rose 6.64 points, or 0.2 percent, to 2,743.06.

All three stock indexes gained more than 2 percent for the week, helping them erase losses following the March 11 earthquake that hit Japan. The week started with a 178.01 point jump for the Dow after AT&T Inc. agreed to buy T-Mobile USA for $39 billion.