U.S. stocks rise amid consumer sentiment data, earnings

NEW YORK, Jan. 13 (Xinhua) -- Wall Street's major averages climbed on Friday as investors digested the latest U.S. consumer sentiment data and a slew of earnings reports.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 112.64 points, or 0.33 percent, to 34,302.61. The S&P 500 added 15.92 points, or 0.40 percent, to 3,999.09. The Nasdaq Composite Index increased 78.05 points, or 0.71 percent, to 11,079.16.

Eight of the 11 primary S&P 500 sectors ended in green, with consumer discretionary and financials up 0.97 percent and 0.71 percent, respectively, outpacing the rest. Real estate dipped 0.61 percent, the worst-performing group.

A preliminary survey of U.S. consumer sentiment index rose to 64.6 in January, hitting a multi-month high and up 8.2 percent from December's reading of 59.7, the University of Michigan reported on Friday.

The survey also showed that year-ahead inflation expectations receded for the fourth straight month, falling to 4 percent in January from 4.4 percent in December.

Meanwhile, several financial heavyweights, including Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and Wells Fargo, reported quarterly results on Friday, kicking off the fourth-quarter earnings season.

"We think that U.S. earnings have yet to fully reflect the impact of last year's 425bps of increases, and we expect that the upcoming 4Q corporate reporting season will provide a reality check," UBS analysts said Friday in a note.

For the week, the Dow rose 2 percent, the S&P 500 advanced 2.7 percent and the Nasdaq gained 4.8 percent.