U.S. stocks rose for a fifth time in six days as analysts recommended buying bank shares and higher oil prices boosted energy producers, outweighing a slump in retailers following disappointing May sales.
Keycorp surged 20 percent after RBC Capital Markets named the bank a “top pick,” while Goldman Sachs Group Inc. rose 5.2 percent as Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. raised the shares to “outperform.” Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp. led a rally in energy shares as oil climbed 4.1 percent. Retailers from Macy’s Inc. to Costco Wholesale Corp. dropped after sales in May tumbled as higher unemployment curtailed spending.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index climbed 1.2 percent to 942.46 at 4:17 p.m. in New York. The benchmark measure for U.S. equities has rallied 39 percent from a 12-year low on March 9 on optimism the global recession is slowing. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 74.96 points, or 0.9 percent, to 8,750.24. The Nasdaq Composite Index added 1.3 percent to 1,850.02.
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