U.S. stocks rose

U.S. stocks rose, trimming the biggest weekly drop of the year for the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, as a gain in energy companies offset a report showing purchases of new homes unexpectedly fell.

U.S. stocks retreated yesterday as manufacturing contracted in China and Europe and FedEx Corp. tumbled amid a disappointing forecast. The S&P 500 is still up 2.3 percent for March, heading for its longest monthly rally since September 2009 as economic data topped forecasts and the European Central Bank disbursed more than 1 trillion euros ($1.3 trillion) to lenders.

Dow 13,086.52     +40.38 +0.31%, Nasdaq      3,062.19       -1.13   -0.04%, S&P 500    1,397.27       +4.49         +0.32%

Chevron (CVX) climbed 1.1 percent to $106.55. Oil surged almost $3 a barrel after Reuters reported Iranian oil exports will drop by 300,000 barrels a day because of tighter sanctions. Consol Energy Inc. jumped 2.8 percent to $33.85 while Nabors Industries Ltd. added 3 percent to $19.08.

Raw-material companies had the second-biggest gain out of 10 groups in the S&P 500, climbing 1.1 percent as commodity prices rose. Alcoa Inc. (AA)  jumped 2.1 percent, the most in the Dow, to $10.22.

Financial shares advanced. Morgan Stanley added 3.8 percent to $20.34 for the biggest gain in the S&P 500. The New York- based firm was raised to sector perform from underperform at Royal Bank of Canada. Discover Financial Services climbed 3.8 percent to $33.71 after the payments network company was raised to conviction buy at Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

The S&P Supercomposite Homebuilding Index fell 2 percent today. New-home sales fell 1.6 percent to a 313,000 annual pace, the slowest since October, from a 318,000 rate in January that was weaker than previously reported, figures from the Commerce Department showed today in Washington.

KB Home, the Los Angeles-based homebuilder that targets first-time buyers, sank 8.9 percent to $10.24. Revenue in the first-quarter was $254.6 million, falling short of the average analyst estimate of $328.6 million.

Micron Technology Inc. fell 3.7 percent to $8.39 for the biggest drop in the S&P 500 after reporting a third consecutive quarterly loss as sluggish demand for personal computers dragged down chip prices.