Stocks Gain On Late Day Rally

It was another quiet day on Wall Street, but an afternoon rally pushed the U.S. stock market firmly into positive territory by the closing bell.

The leader on the day was the Nasdaq Composite while the Dow Jones Industrial Average only recorded a small gain. The U.S. dollar was also stronger on Friday, while the euro fell.

The week was short on economic data and investors continued to focus on corporate earnings releases. Near the close on Friday, the S&P 500 had gained almost 14.50 percent in 2013.

Major Averages
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 36 points, or 0.24 percent, to 15,118.

The S&P 500 added 7 points, or 0.43 percent, to 1,634.

The Nasdaq climbed 27 points, or 0.80 percent, to 3,437.

Commodities
Crude oil was trading lower late on Friday. At last check, NYMEX crude futures had lost 0.58 percent to $95.83. Brent contracts had lost 0.72 percent and were last trading at $103.72. Natural gas fell a little less than 2 percent to $3.91.

Precious metals also declined on Friday. COMEX gold futures lost more than 2 percent and were trading at $1,438.20. Silver was last down a little better than 1 percent to $23.62. Copper futures were unchanged on the day.

Both corn and wheat also traded lower to end the week. Near the close of equities, corn futures had lost a little less than 2 percent while wheat was trading down 2.66 percent. In soft commodities, movers included cocoa, which lost 1.63 percent, and coffee, which was down 1.37 percent.

Bonds
Near the close of the stock market, the iShares Barclays 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF (TLT) was down 1.22 percent to $118.58. The drop in prices pushed yields higher on the day.

The 2-Year Note yield added two basis points to 0.24 percent while the 5-Year yield rose seven basis points to 0.82 percent.

Both the 10-Year Note yield and the 30-Year Bond yield rose ten basis points to 1.90 percent and 3.10 percent, respectively.

Currencies
The U.S. dollar rose on Friday. At last check, the PowerShares DB US Dollar Index Bullish ETF (UUP), which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of foreign currencies, was trading up 0.56 percent to $22.60.

The closely watched EUR/USD pair was last down 0.35 percent to $1.2971. The USD/JPY climbed 1.20 percent on the session and the AUD/USD fell 0.48 percent.

Volatility and Volume
The CBOE Volatility Index continued its decline on Friday as investors are showing considerable confidence in the market. Late in the session, the VIX had lost around 2.44 percent to 12.81.

Volume remained light to end the week. Only around 87 million SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) shares traded hands compared to a 3-month daily average of 125 million.

Stock Movers
Shares of Molycorp (MCP) had climbed more than 32 percent late on Friday after the company reported Q1 revenue ahead of analysts' consensus.

Shares of Warner Chilcott (WCRX) surged almost 22 percent after reports suggested that drugmaker Actavis (ACT) was in talks to merge with the company. Actavis rose around 11 percent on the news.

Ubiquiti Networks (UBNT) jumped around 18 percent on Friday after the company's fiscal third-quarter earnings results.

Tesla Motors (TSLA) surged for the second day in a row after the company reported its first-ever profit on Wednesday after the closing bell. The stock was last up around 10 percent.

Restoration Hardware (RH) was trading up better than 19 percent late on Friday after the company released its fiscal Q4 results and raised its Q1 outlook.

Universal Display (PANL) fell roughly 17 percent after reporting a wider first-quarter loss.

Magicjack Vocaltec (CALL) lost more than 12 percent late on Friday after the company reported disappointing Q1 results.

Synageva BioPharma (GEVA) fell almost 7 percent after the stock was downgraded at JPMorgan.

BY Scott Rubin