US stocks notch a 3rd straight week of gains

U.S. stock indexes moved higher again Friday, with the Dow Jones industrial average setting yet another record in a third consecutive week of gains. A last-minute surge in trading apparently turned aside warnings from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke about the vulnerability of the U.S. economy to banks that are too big to fail. Bernanke made no comments on the central bank's view of the economy or stimulus measures in remarks at a bank structure conference in Chicago. At the close Friday, the DJIA showed a gain of 35.87 points, or 0.24 percent, to 15,118.49 -- 10 points better than Wednesday's record close. The Nasdaq composite gained 27.41, or 0.8 percent, to 3,436.58 while the Standard and Poor's 500 added 7.03, or 0.43 percent, to 1,633.70. On the New York Stock Exchange 1,959 issues advanced and 1,139 declined on total volume of more than 3.088 billion shares. The 10-year U.S. treasury note fell 26/32 to yield 1.903 percent. Crude oil fell 48 cents and settled at $95.96 per barrel. Gold was off $22 to $1,446.60 per troy ounce. On international markets the Japanese Nikkei index gained 416.06 points or 2.93 percent to 14,607.54 while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was up 109.74 points or 0.47 percent to 23,321.22. In Europe, the London FTSE gained 32.24 points or 0.49 percent to 6,624.98 while the German DAX added 16.04 points or 0.19 percent to 8,278.59. On currency markets, the euro and yen fell against the dollar. The euro fell to $1.2992 Friday from $1.3042 Thursday. The dollar rose to 101.6 yen Friday from 100.6 yen Thursday.