By Caroline Valetkevitch
NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks bounced back after five sessions of losses on Friday, along with a sharp rebound in energy shares, following data that signaled the U.S. economy was on track for solid growth.
U.S. consumer sentiment hit its highest in 11 years in January, while factory output rose last month, reports showed.
Investors attempted to interpret the impact of the move by the Swiss National Bank on Thursday to lift the cap on the Swiss franc. The decision could be seen as foreshadowing a large stimulus move by the European Central Bank next week that would further weaken the euro, or as a safeguard against a possible Greek exit from the euro zone that could potentially destabilize the bloc.
All 10 of the S&P 500 sectors were higher, though energy <.SPNY> led the charge, rising 2.8 percent. U.S. crude oil futures settled up 5.3 percent after the International Energy Agency forecast the market downtrend would end.
"Some of this is also just volatility, a little bit of a bounceback. Economic numbers are a little bit better as well. Consumer sentiment at an 11-year high... means maybe people are going to be out there spending a bit more," said Larry Peruzzi, senior equity trader at Cabrera Capital Markets Inc in Boston.
At 2:32 p.m., the Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> rose 79.14 points, or 0.46 percent, to 17,399.85, the S&P 500 <.SPX> gained 13.98 points, or 0.7 percent, to 2,006.65 and the Nasdaq Composite <.IXIC> added 32.80 points, or 0.72 percent, to 4,603.62.
Still, indexes were on track for a third week of declines.
Shares of retail foreign exchange broker FXCM Inc
Two people familiar with the matter said investment bank Jefferies has expressed interest in a rescue deal with FXCM. Shares of Jefferies parent, Leucadia National Corp
Interactive Brokers
Among the biggest energy gainers, shares of Schlumberger Ltd
Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by 2,219 to 838, for a 2.65-to-1 ratio; on the Nasdaq, 1,842 issues rose and 872 fell for a 2.11-to-1 ratio.
The benchmark S&P 500 index was posting 23 new 52-week highs and 15 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite was recording 29 new highs and 95 new lows.
(Editing by Bernadette Baum and Jeffrey Benkoe)