Earnings, hope for Europe lift stocks

A broad rally swept through the stock market Friday after McDonald's and several other large companies reported solid earnings.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index closed higher for the third straight week, its best run since February, as hope builds that a weekend meeting will bring European leaders closer to easing that region's debt troubles.

The Dow Jones industrial average jumped 267.01 points, or 2.31 percent, to 11,808.79. The Dow is now up 2 percent from where it started 2011. Before Friday's surge it was down for the year. The Dow has risen for four weeks straight, the first time that has happened since January.

The combination of stronger earnings, better economic news and a sense that European officials were taking the debt crisis more seriously have helped lift stocks, said Phil Orlando, chief equity market strategist at Federated Investors.

The S&P 500 was up 22.86 points, or 1.88 percent, to 1,238.25. Rising stocks in the S&P outpaced falling ones by a margin of 20 to 1; only 23 companies traded lower. The Nasdaq composite index gained 38.84, or 1.49 percent, to 2,637.46. ---- AP