--Stocks push higher behind consumer-discretionary stocks --Amazon.com, Expedia soar as quarterly results exceed expectations --Stock benchmarks on pace for their biggest weekly gains in six weeks By Chris Dieterich OF DOW JONES NEWSWIRES NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- Solid quarterly results from consumer stocks including Amazon.com sent stocks higher, setting up benchmarks for their biggest weekly gains in a month. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 35 points, or 0.3%, to 13238, in late-afternoon trading on Friday. The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index advanced four points, or 0.3%, to 1404. Both are set to rise for the fourth session in a row. The Dow is up 1.6% this week, while the S&P 500 has climbed 1.9%, the biggest weekly gains for each since March 16. Dow industrials have risen 0.3% this month. Should gains hold through Monday, blue chips would notch a seventh straight monthly advance, the longest streak in five years. The Nasdaq Composite added 20 points, or 0.7%, to 3071. The technology-heavy Nasdaq has climbed 2.5% this week an is pacing pace for its biggest weekly rise in nearly three months. Consumer-discretionary stocks led Friday's gains. Amazon soared 16% after the online retailer reported first-quarter revenue jumped 34%. Expedia jumped 25% and hit an all-time high after the online travel agent booked better-than-forecast first-quarter adjusted earnings and revenue. Expedia's report gave some lift to TripAdvisor, which also climbed 8.4%. "Earnings are consistently performing better than what had been, admittedly, very modest expectations," said Phil Orlando, chief equity strategist for Federated Investors. "The whisper thinking was that we would see negative year-over-year results for both revenue and earnings. The numbers are not blowouts, but we're getting single-digit growth for both the top and bottom lines." Not all reports were met with cheers. Procter & Gamble fell 4% after the consumer-goods company topped fiscal third-quarter earnings estimates but came up short of revenue forecasts. The company also provided a fourth-quarter outlook that was below projections. In U.S. economic news, first-quarter economic growth came in below consensus estimates. The Commerce Department's first reading on gross domestic product, a broad measure of all the goods and services produced in the economy, expanded at a rate of 2.2% in the first quarter, versus expectations for 2.6% growth. Separately, an economic report showed U.S. consumers in late April felt better about the economy than earlier in the month. European markets traded broadly higher as a successful Italian bond auction offset concerns about a downgrade to Spain's credit rating. The Stoxx Europe 600 rose 0.8% to notch its fifth advance in six sessions after Italy sold close to the maximum target of government bonds, erasing losses suffered after Standard & Poor's cut Spain's long-term sovereign-credit rating two notches. The index rose for the second Asian markets were mostly lower, as worries about Spain's downgrade offset additional easing moves by the Bank of Japan. Japan's Nikkei Stock Average closed down 0.4% after the central bank said it would increase its asset-purchase program. Crude-oil prices slipped 0.4%, to $104.93 a barrel, while gold prices rose 0.3%, to $1664.00 a troy ounce. The dollar lost ground against the euro and the yen. Demand for Treasury bonds fell, pushing the benchmark 10-year note up to 1.931%. In other corporate news, Starbucks slid 5.1% after the coffee chain reported fiscal second-quarter results that missed estimates, although the company also lifted its full-year earnings outlook. Ford Motor fell 2.1% after the auto maker reported first-quarter earnings and revenue that declined from year-earlier levels but exceeded analyst expectations. Allscripts Healthcare Solutions tumbled 35% after the health-care records company missed first-quarter earnings expectations and terminated its chairman, which prompted three other board members to resign in protest. Allscripts didn't give details about why Chairman Philip Pead was ousted. Merck declined 0.2% after reporting that first-quarter earnings were slightly above estimates but revenue missed targets. The drug maker also affirmed its 2012 earnings outlook. Chevron rose 0.1% after the oil-and-gas producer's first-quarter revenue missed expectations. -By Chris Dieterich, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2611; christopher.dieterich@dowjones.com
