NEW YORK -- Wall Street stocks rallied Friday as further signs of recovery from the prolonged global economic slump helped the market keep upward momentum.

The market was also helped by an improved tone on the bond market, easing concerns about rising interest rates that could dampen any recovery.

Late-day gains lifted the Dow Jones Industrial Average of 30 blue-chip stocks 96.53 points (1.15 percent) to end at 8,500.33, extending gains from the prior session in the last day of May trading.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq climbed 22.54 points (1.29 percent) to 1,774.33 and the broad-market Standard & Poor's 500 index added 12.31 points (1.36 percent) to 919.14.

Market action was choppy amid mixed economic news as investors appeared to hesitate at the close of a week that saw the Dow gain nearly 2.7 percent and the broad market 3.6 percent.

"This was one of those trading days where you had no clue where the market was going to be up or down until the last 10 minutes of the day. Fortunately, that was up," said Jon Ogg at 24/7 Wall Street.

Reaction from investors seemed positive on the government's revision of US first quarter gross domestic product (GDP) showing output contracted 5.7 percent.

The Commerce Department revised its initial estimate of a 6.1 percent annualized decline for the January-March period, following a brutal 6.3 percent contraction in the fourth quarter.

"The US is in a steep recession, the steepest since the Great Depression. However, the pieces necessary for expansion later this year are falling into place," said Augustine Faucher at Moody's Economy.com.

The gains were capped by other data that offered a mixed picture of the economy moving forward. The University of Michigan survey on consumer sentiment was better than expected, but a disappointing report on Midwest manufacturing activity offset that.

Aside from the US data, market sentiment was boosted Friday by reports that industrial output increased 5.2 percent in Japan, marking the largest increase since 1953, and India posted better-than-expected 5.8 percent quarterly GDP growth.

"Economic reports from India and Japan signal the worst of the global economic recession may be ending," said Al Goldman at Wachovia Securities.

Bonds staged a strong rebound as fears about the growing supply of US debt eased.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury bond fell to 3.465 percent from 3.672 percent Thursday and that on the 30-year bond dropped to 4.338 percent against 4.530 percent. Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions.

Among stocks in focus, Dell climbed 0.78 percent to $11.57 as the computer giant reported stronger-than-expected earnings for the first fiscal quarter of $290 million.

Elsewhere in the sector, Google added 1.55 percent to $417.23 while Apple increased 0.55 percent to $135.81.

In finance, JPMorgan Chase advanced 0.68 percent to $36.90, helped by a brokerage upgrade. Rival Citigroup increased 1.36 percent to $3.72.

General Motors shares plunged 33 percent to $0.75 after US officials said the automaker's stock would probably be worthless after a likely bankruptcy filing. The stock was expected to be removed from the Dow industrials index.

Oil companies extended gains as crude prices firmed. ExxonMobil increased 0.17 percent to $69.35, and Chevron increased 1.31 percent to $66.67.