Stocks finished lower Friday, but still recorded their biggest monthly gains since October 2011. Investors found renewed optimism this month as China’s economic outlook stabilized and the country’s central bank cut borrowing rates. Meanwhile hints of more quantitative easing measures from the European Central Bank also helped lift global equity markets. Investors took the Federal Reserve’s hawkish statement, which explicitly mentioned a possibility of and interest-rate increase at its December meeting, in stride, posting big gains after the announcement on Wednesday. The S&P 500 SPX, -0.48% closed 10.05 points, or 0.5%, lower at 2,079.36 but was up 0.2% over the week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -0.52% fell 92 points, or 0.5%, to 17,663.54 but rose 0.1% over the week. The Nasdaq Composite COMP, -0.40% ended the day down 20.53 points, or 0.4%, at 5,053.75, but was up 0.4% on the week. Consumer spending rose in September by the smallest amount since the start of the year, mostly because Americans spent less on gasoline after another drop in prices. U.S. employment costs climbed in the third quarter, though there is little evidence of a broad acceleration in labor costs.