NEW YORK — U.S. stocks on Friday capped their best month since November with modest gains, lifted by some improvement in U.S. economic data, though worries about consumer spending and sovereign debt kept a lid on optimism.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 4.23 points to 10,325.26, up 2.6 percent for the month, its best performance since a 6.5 percent gain in November.
The Nasdaq Composite rose 0.2 percent to 2,238.26, up 4.2 percent for the month.
The Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index ticked up 0.1 percent to 1,104.49, up 2.9 percent for the month. All its sectors rose modestly Friday except utilities and consumer staples.
The month turned out to be a good one for investors despite rising concerns about sovereign debt and the pace of the global economic recovery. Throughout the month, those fears often alternated with an increasing focus on the U.S. stock market as a safe haven, producing eight triple-digit daily point swings in the Dow.
“It’s often a case of taking a couple steps forward, a couple steps back right now,” said portfolio manager Frank Ingarra, of Hennessy Funds. “But I think the overall trend is that we’re starting to see the markets get back to normal. We’re fine for the long term, but in the near term, you can have some rough stretches.”
On Friday, investors welcomed a report from the Commerce Department saying that GDP grew at a 5.9 percent annual rate in 2009’s fourth period, the fastest rate since the third quarter of 2003. A month ago, the department had estimated that GDP rose at a 5.7 percent rate in the fourth quarter.
However, consumers were more modest in their spending last quarter than first thought. Real consumer spending rose at a 1.7 percent annual rate, compared with the previously estimated 2 percent gain.
The Chicago Business Barometer, formerly known as the Chicago Purchasing Managers Index, rose for a fifth consecutive month to its highest level since April 2005, beating analysts’ expectations, a report showed.
Concerns over policy in the euro zone continued to simmer, with the European Union pushing Greece to adopt new austerity measures.
Meanwhile, Greece pushed back plans to sell a minimum $2 billion in global bonds in the U.S. and Asia, a finance ministry spokeswoman said.
