US stocks rose on Friday after positive comments on the economy from bellwether General Electric Co eased worries about slowing earnings growth that sent stocks to 6-week lows a day earlier.
GE, whose businesses range from jet engines to the NBC television network, reported better-than-expected earnings, giving a boost to other manufacturers like United Technologies Corp, Caterpillar Inc and 3M Co.
GE's earnings, which beat expectations by a penny, dispelled some of the gloom about the corporate reporting period, which gets fully under way next week. Worries about profitability weighed on stocks after recent profit warnings and lackluster forecasts, particularly from technology companies.
"Especially from the software crowd, there were a lot of negative comments and that served to weigh down a little bit on sentiment," said Ozan Akcin, chief market strategist, Puglisi & Co. "Today, we're getting a wider variety of companies reporting, and I think people are realising we're in for a very solid reporting period."
The Dow Jones industrial average was up 41.66 points, or 0.41 percent, at 10,213.22.
The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was up 3.70 points, or 0.33 percent, at 1,112.81. The technology-laced Nasdaq Composite Index was up 11.01 points, or 0.57 percent, at 1,946.33.
For the week, the Dow fell 0.68 percent, the Nasdaq Composite dropped 3.01 percent and the S&P 500 index fell 1.12 percent.
It was the fourth consecutive weekly decline for the S&P 500, the third for the Dow and the second for the Nasdaq.
After reporting higher earnings, General Electric's chairman and chief executive, Jeff Immelt, said the economy is the best the company has seen in years.
"GE was the thing that really turned the market," said Todd Leone, head of listed trading at S.G. Cowen. "It's really a market bellwether."
GE rose 47 cents to $32.17 on the New York Stock Exchange and was the biggest contributor to the rise in the S&P 500 index.
Trading was moderate, with about 1.2 billion shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange and about 1.4 billion shares traded on Nasdaq.
US crude oil prices hovering near $40 a barrel have stoked concerns that profit growth will slow in the future. The NYMEX August crude futures contract fell 37 cents, or 0.9 percent, to $39.90 a barrel.
United Technologies advanced $1.45, or nearly 2 percent, to $89.76, and Caterpillar gained 55 cents to $77.08.
Auto parts maker Dana Corp rose on news that it has agreed to sell its replacement parts business to Cypress Group for $1.1 billion. Dana's shares climbed 74 cents, or 4 percent, to $19.16.
Still, worries that earnings growth may be set to slow from its rapid pace in recent quarters is keeping the market's gains in check, said Jon Brorson, managing director of growth equities at Neuberger Berman.
"There's still a great deal of nervousness," Brorson said. "It's not like people haven't heard the story that earnings are going to be strong this quarter. Even if companies meet earnings, there are probably even greater expectations that are built in."
Arch Coal Inc warned its second-quarter earnings will be at the lower end of estimates mostly due to rail service disruptions. Shares of the No. 2 US coal producer fell more than 5 percent, or $1.95, to $34.47.
Unisys Corp warned that second-quarter earnings and revenue would be lower than expected because of delays in service projects and computer sales contracts, primarily in the United States and Latin America. Its shares slumped $1.99, or 15 percent, to $10.87.
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