Dow Ends Day Up 53

Stocks are closing higher, giving the market its fourth straight weekly gain, the AP reports. The gains Friday were led by phone companies and utilities, traditional safe-play stocks that have done far better than the rest of the market over the past year. Those high-dividend stocks have been appealing to investors hungry for income, particularly with the yields on US government bonds near historic lows of well under 2%. AT&T rose 1.4% and Exelon rose 2.6%. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 9 points, or 0.5%, to 2,175. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 53 points, or 0.3%, to 18,570. The Nasdaq composite increased 26 points, or 0.5%, to 5,100. (More Dow Jones stories.)