Business Blog Posts: Wall Street gains helped by GE, Google results

Wall Street gains helped by GE, Google results

Addison Ray

By Angela Moon

NEW YORK | Fri Jan 21, 2011 9:54am EST

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks rose on Friday after two days of declines as strong earnings General Electric and Google boosted investor optimism.

General Electric Co (GE.N) was the top gainer on the Dow index, up 4.5 percent at $19.28. The world's biggest maker of electric turbines and jet engines, reported better-than-expected earnings, helped by the recovery of its finance arm and a rise in revenue at its industrial units, including a sharp pickup in sales of locomotives.

Google Inc (GOOG.O) shares rose 1.4 percent at $635.80 after the company reported better-than-expected net revenue for its fourth quarter, after markets closed on Thursday.

"There is still a lot of liquidity going into the market, especially after pulling back for a day or two," said Doug Roberts, chief market strategist for Channel Capital Research in New Jersey.

The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI was up 53.81 points, or 0.46 percent, at 11,876.61. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index .SPX was up 6.78 points, or 0.53 percent, at 1,287.04. The Nasdaq Composite Index .IXIC was up 10.90 points, or 0.40 percent, at 2,715.19.

Shares of Bank of America Corp (BAC.N) fell 1.4 percent to $14.33 after the largest U.S. bank by assets reported a second straight quarterly loss, driven by a $2 billion write-down in its mortgage business.

(Editing by Padraic Cassidy)