U.S. stocks jump in last trading day of Q3

U.S. stocks ended sharply higher Friday, the last trading day of the third quarter, as investors cheered over a strong rebound in Deutsche Bank shares.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 164.70 points, or 0.91 percent, to 18,308.15. The S&P 500 gained 17.14 points, or 0.80 percent, to 2,168.27. The Nasdaq Composite Index increased 42.85 points, or 0.81 percent, to 5,312.00.

U.S.-listed shares of Deutsche Bank spiked 14.02 percent to 13.09 U.S. dollars apiece Friday on a report that the giant financial institution may be near a settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice.

On Thursday, Deutsche Bank's shares sank 6.67 percent to an all-time low, which caused a broad-based sell-off in bank equities, after Bloomberg reported that a group of hedge funds were reducing their exposure to the bank.

Analysts said Thursday's selloff was an overreaction and the market was walking back Friday.

On the economic front, U.S. personal income increased 39.3 billion U.S. dollars, or 0.2 percent, in August, the Commerce Department said Friday.

Disposable personal income rose 31.9 billion dollars, or 0.2 percent, and personal consumption expenditures increased 6.2 billion dollars, or less than 0.1 percent.

"In early August, the Atlanta Fed's GDPNow forecast pointed to 3.8 percent Q3 growth. When this morning's data are incorporated later today, that is likely to be revised from the most recent 2.8 percent to about 2.5 percent," said Chris Low and Sophia Kearney-Lederman, economists at FTN Financial, in a joint note.

Meanwhile, the final reading of the consumer sentiment for September was 91.2, better than market estimates, said the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan index of consumer sentiment on Friday.

For the week, the blue-chip Dow rose 0.3 percent, and the broader S&P 500 increased 0.2 percent, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq edged up 0.1 percent. Endit