For the third straight week, stocks posted positive returns by the close of last week. Each of the indexes listed here gained at least 2.40%, with the small caps of the Russell 2000 zooming up by almost 5.0%. Energy shares had a strong week as oil prices rallied. Investors were also encouraged by rhetoric from Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell, who advised that the economy remained on solid ground and that the Fed would be sensitive to changes in the economy when determining whether to raise interest rates.