Shares of Wells Fargo & Co. surged 5.7% in midday trade Friday, putting them on track to close at a 3 1/2-month high, after bank said it would raise its dividend 10% and buy up to $24.5 billion in the aftermath of passing the Federal Reserve's stress test. The rally paces all the stocks of financial companies that passed the stress tests. Among the other biggest gainers, shares of Ally Financial Inc. hiked up 3.9% and CIT Group Inc. climbed 3.3%. Of some of the more active stress-test passer, share of Bank of America Corp. rose 1.2%, of Citigroup Inc. rallied 2.5% and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. gained 1.5%. The financial sector was the best performer of the S&P 500's 11 key sectors, with the SPDR Financial Select Sector ETF rising 1.5%, posting a second day of gains after a record-setting 13-straight losses. The ETF is now down 3.3% year to date, while the S&P 500 is up 2.5%.