Stocks rise, capping strong quarter

Rising consumer spending boosted stocks on Friday, and Wall Street closed its best first quarter since 1998.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 66.22 points to close at 13,212.04. For the quarter, the Dow posted an 8 percent gain, its best first quarter in 14 years.

The broad Standard & Poor's 500 index, despite falling six out of the last nine sessions, gained 12 percent in the first quarter, also its best start of the year since 1998, and its best overall quarter since the third quarter of 2009. The broad-market average sits just off four-year highs. On Friday, the S&P 500 rose rose 5.19 points to close at 1,408.47.

The Nasdaq composite barely moved, falling 3.79 points to close at 3,091.57. Its quarterly gain was 19 percent, the best for the tech-heavy index since 1991.

An ultra loose monetary policy from the U.S. Federal Reserve, which has kept interest rates at historic lows, is widely seen as one of the engines of the recent rally in stocks. "If there's no real bad news and the Fed is pushing money into the economy, markets tend to go higher," said John Manley, chief equity strategist at Wells Fargo Funds Management in New York.

The Commerce Department said Friday consumer spending rose in February at the fastest rate in seven months. Americans spent more even though their income has stagnated for two months after taxes and inflation. Some of the increased spending has gone to gasoline, which is the most expensive on record for this time of year. Oil prices rose again on Friday, up 23 cents in New York to $103.02 per barrel.

Nine out of 10 industry groups in the S&P 500 rose. The biggest-gaining category was energy stocks, although refiners fell because of the higher oil prices. Health care stocks rose, too, with two of the biggest gainers being health insurers UnitedHealth Group Inc. and WellPoint Inc. Technology stocks fell slightly.

Some of the buying could be driven by end-of-the-quarter efforts by fund managers to get into stocks now that they have become popular again, said Jim Russell, a regional investment director for US Bank Wealth Management. And individual investors who have been relying on bonds appear to be getting back into the market, too, he said.