GREAT WEEK ON STREET; INDEXES RECOVER FROM RECENT DECLINES AS ADOBE'S SURGE BOOSTS SOFTWARE SHARES.

Byline: Deborah Stern and Phil Serafino Bloomberg News

U.S. stocks rose, closing one of their best weeks of the year, after Adobe Systems Inc. reported a surge in earnings, leading software shares higher.

Confidence that the Federal Reserve won't embark on a series of interest-rate increases helped bolster stocks. Gains were limited as Intel Corp. and Gillette Co. fell on concern about earnings.

``A sense of order has returned'' to the stock market, said Timothy Stevenson, a money manager for First Union Corp. in Charlotte, N.C., which oversees $50 billion. ``It's a pretty good environment for earnings.''

The Nasdaq Composite Index, loaded with software companies, climbed 19.29, or 0.8 percent, to 2563.44, finishing the week with a 4.7 percent gain, its best performance since the week ended Jan. 29.

Other major indexes had smaller advances. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 13.93, or 0.1 percent, to 10,855.56. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose 2.94, or 0.2 percent, to 1,342.84. Advancers outnumbered decliners by a 15-to-14 ratio on the New York Stock Exchange.

The Dow average added 3.5 percent for the week, 1999's third-biggest weekly gain. The S&P 500 gained 3.8 percent for the week, also its third-biggest advance of the year. The Nasdaq, Dow and S&P all more than recovered from last week's declines amid optimism that earnings will justify stock prices and that the Fed won't need to raise rates much to head off inflation.

Analysts expect operating earnings at companies in the S&P 500 Index to grow 12.4 percent on average in the second quarter, up from a 3.5 percent gain a year ago, according to First Call Corp.

First-quarter earnings rose 10.5 percent, above the 9.5 percent estimate at the beginning of the year.

Adobe soared $8.6875 to $82.5625 after the No. 1 maker of graphics software used by magazines and newspapers topped earnings forecasts.

``Adobe was an upside surprise, and that can only help the techs,'' said Peter Coolidge, managing director of equity trading at Brean Murray & Co.

Friday also marked the quarterly expiration of options on common stocks and stock indexes, as well as futures on indexes. Investors and Wall Street brokerages buy or sell stocks and options to reverse earlier bets.

Some 905 million shares changed hands on the New York Stock Exchange, more than the three-month daily average of 787 million.

Trading volume also got a boost from index-fund managers adjusting their portfolios after Standard & Poor's Corp. changed the weighting of some stocks in the S&P 500 and other indexes.