US: Stocks open higher, buoyed by GE earnings

[NEW YORK] US stocks continued to rally in opening trade Friday buoyed by forecast-beating earnings at industrial heavyweight General Electric.

About five minutes into trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added to Thursday's 217-point gain another 31.93 points (0.19 per cent), at 17,173.68.

The broad-based S&P 500 rose 5.15 (0.25 per cent) to 2,023.86, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index was flat at 4,870.12.

GE shares jumped 2.7 per cent after the company beat profit expectations with US$2.51 billion in its third quarter, though it slightly missed on revenues, which declined 1.3 per cent to US$31.7 billion.

AFP