best five-week run

Stocks rallied Thursday, ending a holiday-shortened week on a high note after Wells Fargo forecast a nearly $3 billion quarterly profit, adding to hopes that the banking sector is stabilizing.

It was the fifth straight week of gains for the markets. In that time the Dow rose 22%, for its best five-week run since May of 1933, when it gained 31%.

The Dow Jones industrial average (INDU) gained 246 points, or 3.1%. The S&P 500 (SPX) index rose 31 points, or 3.8%. The Nasdaq composite (COMP) gained 62 points, or 3.9%.

With today's rally, the Dow regained all of its losses from Monday and particularly Tuesday, when it fell 186 points. The finish will give the blue-chip index a 67-point gain on the week, or 0.8%. The S&P 500 ended with a 1.7% gain for the week and the Nasdaq a 1.9% gain.

The Dow is down 7.9% for the year, with the S&P 500 off 5.2%. The Nasdaq is up 4.8%, with the Nasdaq-100 up 10.6%.

The market rally that began on March 10 has now pushed the major indexes up 23% or more.

Twenty-eight of the 30 Dow stocks were higher on the day, along with 445 S&P 500 stocks and 91 Nasdaq-100 stocks.