Roundup: U.S. stocks rise amid economic data, Fed officials' comments

U.S. stocks rallied in the last week of March, as investors mainly digested a batch of economic reports and speeches delivered by U.S. Federal Reserve officials.

For the week, the blue-chip Dow rose 0.3 percent, and the broader S&P 500 gained 0.8 percent, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq jumped 1.4 percent.

The CBOE Volatility Index, often referred to as Wall Street's fear gauge, increased 7.19 percent to end at 12.37 on Friday.

U.S. personal income increased 57.7 billion U.S. dollars, or 0.4 percent in February, in line with market consensus, according to estimates released Friday by the Commerce Department.

In February, personal consumption expenditures (PCE) increased 7.4 billion dollars, or 0.1 percent, slightly below market expectations of 0.2 percent.

The PCE price index rose 2.1 percent year on year, while core PCE price index, excluding food and energy, increased 1.8 percent from last year.

"We expect spending will rebound in the spring and the Fed will be vindicated. Still, they have taken a risk, at least in part because the trajectory of inflation, including core inflation, is upward," said Chris Low, chief economist at FTN Financial.

The final reading of the consumer sentiment for March came in at 96.9, missing market consensus of 97.6, said the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan index of consumer sentiment on Friday.

U.S. real gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annual rate of 2.1 percent in the fourth quarter of 2016, above market consensus of 2.0 percent, according to the third estimate released by the Commerce Department. In the third quarter of 2016, real GDP increased 3.5 percent.

On other economic news, in the week ending March 25, the advanced figure for seasonally adjusted initial jobless claims was 258,000, a decrease of 3,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 261,000, the U.S. Labor Department reported Thursday.

The four-week moving average was 254,250, an increase of 7,750 from the previous week's unrevised average of 246,500.

U.S. pending home sales rebounded sharply in February to their highest level in nearly a year and second-highest level in over a decade, according to the National Association of Realtors Wednesday.

The Pending Home Sales Index jumped 5.5 percent from 106.4 in January to 112.3 in February, beating market consensus.

The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price NSA Index reported a 5.9-percent annual gain in January, up from 5.7 percent last month and setting a 31-month high.

The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index came in at 125.6 in March, up from 116.1 in February and well above market consensus.

Meanwhile, comments from Federal Reserve officials were in focus.

New York Fed President William Dudley reportedly said Friday that the Fed's forecast of two more interest rate hikes this year seems reasonable, though he cautioned that higher consumer and business confidence is not translating into hard data.

Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester forecast GDP growth above 2 percent in 2017, and sees a "sustained return" to 2 percent inflation "over the next year or so."

Mester also expects the Fed to raise interest rates again this year, but didn't say how many times might be likely, according to the Market Watch.

Chicago Fed President Charles Evans said Wednesday that the fundamentals of the economy were increased in 2017, according to the Market Watch.

Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren said the central bank should set a default of rate increase every other meeting this year, while San Francisco Fed President John Williams said he sees three more rate hikes this year.

Besides, traders also meditated on the start of the United Kingdom's exit from the European Union earlier this week.

Britain's ambassador to the EU, Tim Barrow, handed the official letter triggering Article 50 to European Council President Donald Tusk. This commences the country's two-year exit process from the trading bloc.

British Prime Minister Theresa May said on Wednesday that she wanted Britain to emerge as more outward-looking than ever before while addressing the House of Commons to confirm triggering of the Brexit process. Endit