U.S. stocks rallied, sending the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index to its best gain in six weeks, as analyst Meredith Whitney recommended buying shares of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and said banks may advance 15 percent.

Goldman Sachs climbed 5.3 percent as Whitney gave the firm the only “buy” rating among the eight companies she covers. Bank of America Corp. jumped 9.3 percent, the most in almost two months, after the analyst told CNBC the shares were the “cheapest” among U.S. banks. SanDisk Corp., the largest maker of flash-memory cards, led technology shares higher after Thomas Weisel Partners Group Inc. advised buying the shares.

The S&P 500 advanced 2.5 percent to 901.05 at 4:05 p.m. in New York. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 185.16 points, or 2.3 percent, to 8,331.68. Almost nine stocks gained for each that fell on the New York Stock Exchange.

(Bloomberg.com)