Stocks Head Into June on a Roll

After hitting a snag, the rally seems to be back on track.

Stocks initially wavered on Friday, as traders wrestled with upward revisions to the gross domestic product and the Consumer Sentiment Index and a letdown in regional business. GM's likely bankruptcy also weighed on trading. But a bull market in commodities led to a late rally. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 96 points to 8500. The Nasdaq increased 22 at 1774, and the S&P 500 jumped 12 at 919.

The big news of the month: Commodities like oil had their best run in 34 years, according to CNBC. Oil now stands at $66.43 a barrel, up $1.35 on Friday. It started May at below $52 a barrel.

In economic news, the contraction of the first-quarter GDP was revised to 5.7%, up from 6.1% but not quite as far up as economists had expected.

Meanwhile, the May revision to the Consumer Sentiment Index came in better than consensus estimates, alluding to some unexpected strength in retail going forward next month.

More troubling was the Chicago Purchasing Managers' Index, which fell in May, when economists had predicted a small bump.

The auto industry remains in the throes of revolution. General Motors (GM: 0.75, -0.37, -33.03%) shares lost ground as the firm inched closer to bankruptcy. At the same time, Chrysler moved closer toward emerging from it. GM also announced it had reached an accord with its employees that cuts some retiree benefits.

World markets were broadly higher. In Asia, Japan's Nikkei picked up 0.8%, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng climbed 1.6%. In Europe, the benchmark indexes of London, Paris and Frankfurt finished a bit higher.

Corporate News

Dell (DELL: 11.57, +0.09, +0.78%) posted a 61% drop in first-quarter net income, the firm said. Dell earned $290 million, or 15 cents a share, down sharply from $784 million, or 38 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Excluding one-time items, the firm earned 24 cents a share, a penny better than analysts' estimates. Sales dropped 23% in the quarter, suggesting that weakness in demand remains persistant.

Delphi is in negotiations over a potential asset sale that could help the firm emerge from bankruptcy, The New York Times reported, citing anonymous sources. Delphi, the troubled auto parts supplier that his been operating in bankruptcy since 2005, is being pushed by the Obama administration to sell off some of its non-core assets to aid the firm in pulling out of the red.

Microsoft (MSFT: 20.89, +0.44, +2.15%) unveiled its new search engine, a web-based application called, "Bing" that promises more specific results than Google, far and away the most dominant player in the space. Bing is Microsoft's latest salvo in the war on Google. The search engine replaces Live Search and its predecessor MSN Search.

The Economy

The first-quarter gross domestic product was revised to a preliminary reading of -5.7%, a slight improvement of the advance reading of -6.1%, the Commerce Departmnet said. Economists had expected the Q1 number to be revised up a bit to a 5.5% annual rate of contraction. REPORT

The May reading of the Consumer Sentiment Index was revised to 68.7, up from an earlier reading of 67.9, Reuters and the University of Michigan said. Economists had expected a slight upward revision to a reading of 68.0. REPORT

The Chicago Purchasing Managers' Index for regional business fell to a May reading of 34.9, down from an April reading of 40.1, the Chicago branch of the National Association of Purchasing Management said. Economists had predicted the index would rise to a May reading of 42.0. A reading below 50 indicates activity is contracting.