UNITED States stocks rose last week, sending the Standard & Poor's 500 Index to its second straight monthly advance, after the government said economic growth accelerated and oil dropped the most since March.

Dell Inc climbed to a five-month high as overseas sales helped the second-largest personal-computer maker report more profit than analysts estimated.

Big Lots Inc and Polo Ralph Lauren Corp rose the most in the S&P 500 after the retailers' earnings exceeded forecasts and oil prices fell 3.7 percent, Bloomberg News said.

The S&P 500 rose 1.8 percent to 1,400.38. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 1.3 percent to 12,638.32. The Nasdaq Composite Index increased 3.2 percent to 2,522.66.

"The GDP report, the decline in oil prices and the computer sales from Dell came together to make a pretty good week for stocks," said Jerome Dodson, a fund manager at Parnassus Investments, which oversees US$1.4 billion in San Francisco. "We don't want to be on the sidelines of this market."

The S&P 500 rose in each trading session during the holiday-shortened week, giving the benchmark index for US stocks a 1.1 percent gain in May. That was the second straight monthly advance. The government's gross domestic product report showed the economy grew 0.9 percent in the first quarter, more than a previous estimate of 0.6 percent, helping to reassure investors that the US may avoid a recession.

Dell rose 8.8 percent to US$23.06 last week after higher revenue in Asia led overseas sales to beat those in the US for the first time. The stock has added 24 percent in the past month, the biggest rise since October 2001.

Higher quarterly earnings lifted shares of Big Lots, Polo Ralph Lauren and Tiffany & Co and sent a group of S&P 500 retailers up 3.1 percent.