U.S. stocks closed higher Friday as investors looked ahead to the official start of earnings season next week. In U.S. economic news, home prices for the month of March fell 0.3 percent, in line with analysts' expectations. The dollar continued to advance against currencies of major U.S. trading partners. Light sweet crude oil for May delivery added $1.08 to $51.84 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while gold futures gained $11.00 to $1,204.60 an ounce. The Dow Jones industrial average climbed 98.92, or 0.55 percent, to 18,057.65. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index moved up 10.88, or 0.52 percent, to 2,102.06. The technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index rose 21.41, or 0.43 percent, to 4,995.98.
