MARKET SNAPSHOT Friday... whts next?

Stocks ended sharply higher Friday, with the major indexes scoring weekly gains of more than 2%, after an unexpected rise in new home sales jump-started thinking that the worst of the subprime mess could be over and a recession avoided.

"The market is focused on the combination of economic numbers today, including durable goods and a surprisingly good housing number, as well as no other news coming out of the subprime area," said Paul Nolte, director of investments at Hinsdale Associates.

Up 2.3% for the week, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) rose 143 points at 13,378, with 29 of its 30 components in positive territory, led by the likes of Boeing Co. (BA) , Wal-Mart Stores (WMT) and Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) .

Shares of Home Depot Inc. (HD) advanced 1.9%. The company may receive $1.2 billion less than anticipated for the sale of its wholesale distribution business to private equity firms, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.

The S&P 500 (SPX) gained 16.9 points at 1,479 points, climbing 2.3% for the week, while the technology-laden Nasdaq Composite (RIXF) rose 35 points at 2, 576, a weekly rise of 2.8%.

Shares of tech leader Apple Inc. (AAPL) rose 3.4% following reports that France Telecom (FTE) was in continuing negotiations with the U.S. company over the right to market iPhone.

More than 922 million shares exchanged hands at the New York Stock Exchange, with gainers outpacing decliners by 3 to 1. At the Nasdaq, 1.3 billion shares were traded, with gainers outpacing decliners by 9 to 5.