Stocks ended higher after a last-hour rally on Friday.

Housing starts rose 13.2% in April, well above the 3.1% increase expected by economists. The increase was driven primarily by a 43% surge in multi-family starts. Starts of single-family homes were up only 0.8%.

The Reuters/University of Michigan consumer sentiment survey dropped to 81.8 in early May from a final April reading of 84.1. Economists had expected the survey to show a small increase. One-year inflation expectations were unchanged at 3.2%.

The Dow rose 0.3%, the S&P 500 finished 0.4% higher, while the NASDAQ gained 0.5%.

Darden (DRI) announced today that it has entered into a definitive agreement to sell its Red Lobster brand to private-equity firm Golden Gate Capital for $2.1 billion in cash. Of the $1.6 billion in proceeds after taxes and transaction fees, management intends to use $1.0 billion to retire outstanding debt (taking total debt to approximately $1.6 billion and debt/trailing 12-month EBITDA for the continuing company to approximately 2.2 times), with the remaining $500 million to $600 million being deployed for share repurchases as part of a new $700 million authorization. Additionally, management expects to maintain its current annual dividend of $2.20, which represents a yield of more than 4% at today's prices. In conjunction with the transaction, American Realty Capital Properties will enter into a $1.5 billion sale-leaseback transaction with Golden Gate for over 500 locations. Darden shares fell 4.3%.

Shares of Nordstrom (JWN) soared more than 14% after the firm posted outperformance in what has proved to be a difficult retail quarter. Despite negative retail conditions in the first quarter, including poor weather, calendar shifts, and other macro headwinds, Nordstrom produced sales and earnings above guidance and the mean of analysts' expectations. Same-store sales grew 3.3% and total revenue increased 6.8% to $2.8 billion, compared with guidance for total sales growth of 3.5%-5.5%. New store revenue was entirely driven by Rack, which opened 10 stores in the quarter and 27 since the first quarter of last year, bringing the total to 153 Rack doors compared with 117 full-line Nordstrom stores.

Abbott Labs (ABT) said it is buying Chile based CFR Pharmaceuticals for $2.9 billion. CFR has a footprint in 15 Latin American markets and Abbott management says the firm's portfolio is a good fit with its existing lines. Abbott shares fell 0.5%.

For Australian ADRs listed on the NYSE, BHP Billiton was down 73 cents (-1.02%) to $70.80, ResMed rose 73 cents (1.46%) to $50.57, Telstra Corporation increased 15 cents (0.61%) $24.79, Telecom Corporation of NZ rose 5 cents (0.44%) to $11.65 and Westpac finished up 12 cents (0.37%) at $32.19.

At 7.15AM (AEST), the 10-year Treasury yield was 2.52% and the 5-year yield was 1.55%.

European markets were mixed on Friday.

The FTSE closed 0.2% higher; the CAC 40 gained 0.3%, while the German DAX gave up 0.3%.

The Sensex bucked the trend in Asian trading on Friday as India's opposing Bharatiya Janata Party swept to a comprehensive victory by a margin not seen in the last thirty years.

The Sensex ended 0.9% higher, giving up gains of as much as 6.1% as investors booked profits. The Sensex was in a tizzy in the morning session, creating another fresh record as early counting showed the BJP would rout the ruling Congress Party that has been plagued by corruption and bad governance. The Sensex surged to as high as 25,373.63 points, overtaking its previous highs hit on Tuesday before scaling back lower.

The rupee also gained as the dollar fell below the 59 rupee level, a drop of 1%.

Meanwhile, other Asian markets declined following a weak closing on Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei was down 1.4%. The Shanghai Composite edged up 0.1% while the Hang Seng slipped 0.1%, snapping six straight sessions of gains.

Data out in China showed foreign direct investment in the country slowed in April. China's own investments overseas also declined.

In Japan, data showed industrial production in April rose more-than-expected to a seasonally adjusted 0.7%.

Tokyo stocks were additionally pressured by a stronger yen.

Japan Display shares plunged 12.1% after the company projected a pretax loss of 3.2 billion yen for the April-September quarter and a 21% decline in full-year profit.

Sony was down a further 2.9% while Sharp Corp. and Olympus fell 2.8% each respectively. Panasonic was off 2.4% while NEC Corp. and Fujitsu declined about a percent each.

Konami fell 3.3%.

Top weighted HSBC added 1.1% in Hong Kong following gains in its London-listed shares Thursday.

But other banks were all weak with ICBC and AgBank both ending flat. China CITIC Bank fell 0.6% while insurers Ping An and China Life Insurance were down 0.1% and 0.5% each, respectively.

First Pacific was up 0.5% after it said along with Wilmar they would increase their offer price for Australia's Goodman Fielder. Down under, Goodman Fielder shares were in a trading halt.

Stocks gained across the board in Mumbai with the feel-good sentiment pervading all corners of the market.

Banks gave up their earlier gains but still ended among the top winners. SBI and Axis Bank were up 5.6% and 5.9% each, respectively while ICICI Bank ended 5.2% higher.

SSLT shot up 11.1%.

Other gainers included BHEL, up 5.3%, Tata Power, up 3.7%, L&T, up 3.5%, Airtel, up 3.3%, RIL, up 2.6%, and Tata Motors, up 2.4%. HDFC Bank gained 2.1%.

ONGC received a broker upgrade. It closed up 1.8%.

Australian Market

Local Markets Set to Open Slightly Up

Ahead of the local open, the SPI futures were up 7 points to 5,498.