U.S. stocks rose, pushing the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index to a 0.6 percent yearly rally, as expansion in U.S. industrial purchases and stronger new-home sales offset weaker-than-forecast consumer spending.

Bank of America Corp. (BAC) and Walt Disney Co. rose at least 2 percent, pacing gains among the largest companies. AT&T Inc. (T) advanced 0.7 percent after it won approval for its $1.93 billion purchase of Qualcomm Inc. airwaves. Rambus Inc. jumped 12 percent as the designer of high-speed memory chips settled patent disputes with Broadcom Corp. Financial stocks climbed 0.7 percent, after dropping as much as 0.2 percent.

The S&P 500 (SPX) increased 0.9 percent to 1,265.33 today. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 124.35 points, or 1 percent, to 12,294, the highest since July 27, when a political battle about the U.S. debt ceiling was leading stocks on seven-day decline.

“The macro concerns at least temporarily are being viewed more favorably than they have, say, two or three months ago,” Eric Teal, chief investment officer at First Citizens Bancshares Inc., which manages $4 billion in Raleigh, North Carolina, said in a phone interview. “As long as the economic news shows that the economy is hanging in there and exhibiting signs of sustainability, then I believe the market can move modestly upward.”

The four-day rally in the S&P 500 this week brought the index to a 0.6 percent advance for the year. The gauge gained 3.7 percent this week after data on employment, consumer confidence, housing starts and leading economic indicators added to expectations that the U.S. economy can weather Europe’s sovereign-debt crisis.

Economic Data

Orders for U.S. durable goods rose in November by 3.8 percent, the most in four months, and more than the 2.2 percent economists had predicted, data from the Commerce Department showed today in Washington. Consumer spending and incomes rose less than forecast in November, while sales of new U.S. homes rose 1.6 percent to a 315,000 annual pace in November, a seven- month high, and matching the forecast, data show.

Wall Street strategists forecast the S&P 500 will end the year at 1,278, or 1 percent higher than today’s close. With four trading days left in 2011, the benchmark index for U.S. equities would need to climb about 0.2 percent each day to reach their projection. On average, the S&P 500 gains 1 percent in the last four days of the year, according to data dating back to 1928 compiled by Bloomberg.

S&P 500 Components

Of the 500 companies in the index, 238 have posted advances this year, led by Cabot Oil & Gas Corp., according to data compiled by Bloomberg as of yesterday’s closing prices. Utilities companies gained the most (SPXL1) among 10 industry groups in the S&P 500, adding 14 percent, while financial shares in the index posted the biggest loss, dropping 17 percent.

All 10 industries advanced at least 0.7 percent today, led by utility and telephone-company shares. U.S. stock markets will be closed Dec. 26 for the Christmas holiday.

Disney increased 2 percent to $37.70, while Bank of America rallied 2.4 percent to $5.60.

AT&T, the largest U.S. phone company, rallied 0.7 percent to $29.87. Federal regulators approved its $1.93 billion purchase of Qualcomm’s airwaves three days after AT&T dropped its plan to buy T-Mobile USA Inc. Verizon climbed 1.8 percent to $39.98.

Rambus jumped 12 percent to $8.21. The agreement with Irvine, California-based Broadcom ends all litigation, including claims related to Broadcom’s alleged past use of patented Rambus (RMBS) technology. The license runs for five years, with undisclosed financial terms, Rambus said in a statement.

TripAdvisor Rallies

TripAdvisor Inc., which replaced Tellabs Inc. in the S&P 500 earlier this month, rallied 6.1 percent to $26.02 after plunging 11 percent yesterday. UBS AG rated it a new “neutral,” with a price forecast of $27.

Mead Johnson Nutrition Co. lost the most in the S&P 500 today, falling 5.1 percent to $65.29. The Food and Drug Administration said it may take until next week for test results to show whether infant formula made by the company spurred a bacterial infection that killed a newborn or if something else was at fault.

Congress passed a two-month payroll tax cut extension today, eight days before its scheduled expiration, after House Republicans dropped their objections under growing political pressure. House Speaker John Boehner agreed late yesterday to extend the tax cut, capping a month of wrangling that led to a revolt by House Republicans over the bipartisan deal passed by the Senate on Dec. 17 in an 89-10 vote. The plan approved today will go to President Barack Obama for his signature.

“That removes probably the biggest domestic threat to the economy in 2012,” David Kelly, who helps oversee $394 billion as chief market strategist for JPMorgan Funds in New York, said in a telephone interview. “As the year ends, some of the extremes in uncertainty are diminishing, and that should allow the market to go up.”

To contact the reporters on this story: Whitney Kisling in New York at wkisling@bloomberg.net; Ksenia Galouchko in New York at kgalouchko1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Joanna Ossinger at jossinger@bloomberg.net

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