Wall Street rallies after upbeat earnings
By msnbc.com news services
Wall Street rallied at Friday?s opening bell as big U.S. companies reported solid third-quarter earnings.
The Dow Jones industrial average was lately up over 130 points.
Fast-food giant McDonald's Corp. said its profit rose 9 percent over last year, its ninth straight quarter of gains. Its results beat Wall Street's expectations. McDonald's shares surged 2.7 percent in early trading.
Industrial and financial conglomerate General Electric Co. said its net income rose 18 percent as its lending business continued to recover. Net income at software maker Microsoft Corp. rose 6 percent.
(Msnbc.com is a joint-venture of Microsoft and NBC Universal. GE holds minority interest in the latter.)
Earnings at both companies were in line with analysts' expectations. Their revenue beat Wall Street estimates. GE shares fell 1.3 percent in pre-market trading.
Traders are monitoring Europe's efforts to solve the Greek debt crisis. Worries about a default by Greece have caused much of the market's volatility in recent months.
Overseas stock markets appeared give European leaders the benefit of the doubt that they will agree on a package of measures in time for a summit scheduled tentatively for Wednesday.
Traders had hoped for a plan from a summit this weekend. But talks between France and Germany this week have broken down repeatedly. They said yesterday that there will be no deal before a second summit next week. The two countries disagree about the size of losses that private banks should take on Greek debt that they own, among other issues.
Traders sold ultra-safe U.S. Treasury debt overnight as riskier investments rallied. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 2.20 percent from 2.18 percent late Thursday. Bond yields rise as demand for them falls and their prices decline. That signals traders are demanding a higher return in exchange for holding an investment seen as safe.
Stocks have been lifted at times this week by modestly better news about the U.S. economy. The number of people claiming unemployment benefits declined this week. Housing construction picked up last month, at least for apartment buildings. Inflation remains low.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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