NEW YORK (AP) - Big gains by retailers are lifting stocks in early trading Friday as the market heads toward its best week in more than a year. Nike soared after announcing a stock split, a dividend increase and a stock buyback program.
KEEPING SCORE: The Dow Jones industrial average rose 179 points, or 1 percent, to 17,911 as of 10:17 a.m. Eastern time. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 15 points, or 0.7 percent, to 2,096. The Nasdaq composite climbed 35 points, or 0.7 percent, to 5,108.
RETAIL RALLY: Ross Stores gained $4.37, or 9.5 percent, to $50.57 after reporting results that were better than analysts were expecting. Gap advanced $1.38, or 5.5 percent, to $26.47 after its own quarterly report, and Urban Outfitters rose $1.03, or 4.6 percent, to $23.32.
Retail stocks were pummeled this month after weak reports from Macy's and Nordstrom caused investors to worry that the holiday shopping season would be a bust. Those fears have faded.
THE BIGGER PICTURE: The Dow turned positive for the year for the first time in two weeks. The S&P 500 is on pace to rise 3.5 percent this week, which would be its biggest weekly gain since October 2014.
SWOOSH: Nike said it will raise its dividend, buy back $12 billion of its own shares and split its stock. Nike, which has nearly tripled over the last five years, rose $6.50, or 5.2 percent, to $132.32.
GOING TURBO: TurboTax maker Intuit climbed after it reported strong quarterly revenue and gave a forecast for the current quarter that was better than analysts expected. The stock rose $5.54, or 5.7 percent, to $102.96.
OVERSEAS: In Europe, Germany's DAX rose 0.4 percent while the CAC-40 in France rose 0.1 percent. Britain's FTSE 100 index climbed 0.3 percent.
ENERGY: U.S. crude fell 33 cents, or 0.8 percent, to $40.21 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude, used to price international oils, rose 45 cents, or 1 percent, to $44.63 a barrel in London.
This week U.S. crude dipped under $40 a barrel for the first time in almost three months, but it has yet to close below that psychological barrier.
BONDS, CURRENCIES: U.S. government bond prices rose. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 2.24 percent from 2.25 percent late Thursday. The euro fell to $1.0673 from $1.0731. The dollar edged up to 122.88 yen from 122.86 yen.
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Marley Jay can be reached at http://twitter.com/MarleyJayAP . His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/journalist/marley-jay.