NEW YORK – The stock market ended its best week in a year with another gain Friday as investors bet that companies will report strong second-quarter earnings.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 59 points, or 0.6 percent. That gave the Dow its biggest weekly advance in a year, 5.3 percent. Broader indexes posted bigger gains. Trading volume was light, signaling that many investors were staying out of the market. But those who were trading appeared optimistic about company reports that will be announced next week.

Stocks also got a lift from news that China renewed Google’s license to operate in the country. Google rose 2.4 percent.

News on the economy wasn’t as upbeat. Inventories held by wholesalers rose in May for a fifth straight month though sales dropped for the first time in more than a year. The government said wholesale inventories rose 0.5 percent and sales dropped 0.3 percent. It was the first drop since March 2009.

But investors didn’t appear fazed. Instead, the market appeared to hold on to optimism fed by Thursday’s report of a drop in the number of newly laid-off people seeking jobless benefits.

 


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