NEW YORK — Stocks on Friday rose for a fifth day as investors rode an uptick in confidence about Europe.
The Dow Jones industrial average closed up 75.91 points, or 0.7 percent, at 11,509.09 after rising as much as 99 points and sliding 26 points.
The Dow rose 4.7 percent for the week, its first weekly gain in three weeks.
Wall Street’s moves came as investors looked to developments in Europe, where U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner joined finance ministers gathered to talk about the debt crisis that brings the threat of a default by debt-stricken Greece. The group said it would decide next month whether Greece would get its next round of financial aid.
“People are looking for some kind of certainty between Europe and the U.S., and we’re hoping by Oct. 11 for a conclusion to Greece, and more important Italy and Spain,” said Benjy Schwartz, chief market strategist at Lightspeed Financial.
“They have plenty of time to come up with concepts that would facilitate stability. If we could all come together to work on the economic woes of this world, it would help everybody,” he said.
Stocks had rallied Thursday after the European Central Bank announced a coordinated action with other central banks including the Federal Reserve to ease dollar-funding access to banks.
That move, and a lack of worsening headlines about Europe, helped drive the S&P 500 and Dow average to their strongest weekly increases since July 1.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 climbed 6.9 points, or 0.6 percent, to 1,216.01. The S&P 500 has advanced 5.4 percent since last Friday’s close.
Off the S&P 500, U.S.-listed shares of Research In Motion Ltd. fell 19 percent a day after the BlackBerry maker reported a sharp drop in second-quarter profit.
The Nasdaq composite index advanced 15.24 points, or 0.6 percent, to 2,622.31, up 6.3 percent from last Friday’s finish.
That was its best weekly percentage gain since July 2009.
