Dow Books Biggest Weekly Gain of 2012

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- U.S. stocks got a boost Friday after President Barack Obama spoke out against Greece leaving the eurozone.

The president said Greece remaining part of the single-currency bloc was in "everyone's interest" and urged eurozone leaders to shore up weak banks. He also noted growing signs of progress in talks about combining austerity measures and growth to combat the region's debt crisis.

The positive trading action came ahead of a weekend that features a raft of economic data from China and a potential banking sector aid request from Spain.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 93 points, or 0.75%, to close at 12,554. Thanks mainly to Wednesday's big pop, the blue-chip index finished the week up 3.6% after closing negative for the year a week ago.

The S&P 500 tacked on nearly 11 points, or 0.81%, to settle at 1326. The index rose 3.8% for the week and is now up 5.4% in 2012.

The Nasdaq gained 27 points, or 0.97%, to finish at 2858. The index advanced 4% for the week, putting it up 9.7% year-to-date.

Within the Dow, 26 of 30 components were on the rise, led by Wal-Mart Stores (WMT), Verizon (VZ), and Home Depot (HD).

Blue-chip decliners included Alcoa (AA) and McDonald's (MCD).

Sectors in the green included technology, transportation and consumer cyclicals, while selling was concentrated in energy and basic materials.

On both the New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq, winners were running ahead of losers by a roughly 2-for-1 ratio.

The benchmark 10-year Treasury was up 1/32, diluting the yield to 1.638%. The dollar was adding 0.28%, according to the dollar index.

July crude oil futures settled down 29 cents at $84.53 a barrel and August gold futures settled up $6.30 at $1,594.30 an ounce.

U.S. stocks closed on a mixed note Thursday with gains held in check by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's non-committal stance on additional stimulus measures-- after the European Central Bank provided no indications of near-term stimulus plans -- and a downgrade of Spain's credit rating by Fitch.

But they had gotten an early lift after the People's Bank of China slashed its benchmark lending and deposit rates by 0.25 percentage points to prevent excessive cooling of economic growth in the country. That move was now was triggering some worries that there could be some disappointing data out of the country this weekend, when it releases almost all its heavyweight economic data for May.

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