Major U.S. stock indexes were higher midday Friday, on track for big weekly gains as the S&P 600 neared 6,000 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average neared 44,000.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose nearly 249 points, or 0.6%, to 43,978.

The S&P 500 gained nearly 23 points, or 0.4%, to trade near 5,996.

The Nasdaq Composite gained 2 points more, or less than 0.1%, to 19,271.

For the week, the Dow was on track to gain 4.6%, the S&P 500 was on track to climb 4.7% and the Nasdaq Composite was on track to jump 5.7%, according to FactSet data Friday noon.