Stocks rally on light volume after mixed economic data

The S&P 500 Index rose 1.56 points, or 0.14 percent, to close at 1,104.49.  The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 4.23 points, or 0.04 percent, at 10,325.26.  The Nasdaq Composite gained 0.18 percent.

The leading component of the Dow was JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM), which closed up 3.27 percent. Shares rose on favorable sentiments that emerged from the bank's annual investor day on Thursday.

General Electric (NYSE:GE) gained 0.88 percent and Merck (NYSE:MRK) followed with a gain of 0.85 percent.  Shares of pharmaceuticals and health insurance firms fared well Friday as President Obama failed to make progress on his health care reform proposals this week.

At 8:30 am EST, the U.S. released a revision of last quarter's national GDP. The economy grew at an annualized rate of 5.9 percent, beating a consensus estimate of 5.7 percent, according to a survey of economists by Bloomberg.

The report also showed downwardly revised final sales of domestic products, indicating that unemployment continues to constrain demand.

The number of people filing for unemployment insurance claims in the past two weeks has been higher than consensus estimates.

On Wednesday, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke cited the troubling statistics which show that 40 percent of unemployed Americans have been out of work for over 6 months.

Worse than expected new home sales and better than expected Chicago PMI were reported later in the trading session on Friday.

Follow us on twitter @IBTFinance