U.S. Stocks Advance as Consumer Confidence Exceeds Forecasts

U.S. stocks rose, preventing the biggest weekly drop in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index since August, as confidence among American consumers beat forecasts and climbed to the highest level in three years.

Boeing Co. had the biggest rally in more than a month, rising 2.2 percent, after defeating European Aeronautic, Defence & Space Co. for a $35 billion Air Force tanker program. Intel Corp. gained the most in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, adding 2.7 percent, as Longbow Research advised buying the shares. Salesforce.com Inc., the largest supplier of customer-management software, jumped 3.4 percent after forecasting revenues that exceeded analysts’ projections.