US: Stocks rise on earnings, higher oil prices

[NEW YORK] Wall Street stocks rose early Friday on solid earnings from Salesforce and others, winning back more of the losses suffered earlier in the week due to worries about President Donald Trump's agenda.

Investors bid up a number of stocks following earnings reports, including Salesforce, up 1.5 per cent, Deere & Co, up 7.8 per cent and Applied Materials, up 0.7 per cent.

Energy shares rose on higher oil prices, with Halliburton and Devon Energy both gaining 1.5 per cent.

Analysts also cited the relatively placid news flow over the last 24 hours involving Mr Trump after a number of shocking stories involving him in the last week over the firing of FBI director James Comey and allegations the president disclosed highly sensitive intelligence to Russian officials.

Mr Trump is leaving Friday for an eight-day swing through the Middle East and Europe, "so there is also a budding sense that the stock market might get a measure of relief in the near term from the political drama unfolding here at home," said Briefing.com analyst Patrick O'Hare.

But he cautioned, "One shouldn't be surprised if that assumption ultimately gets nipped in the bud." About 15 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average stood at 20,718.63, up 0.3 per cent.

The broad-based S&P 500 rose 0.4 per cent to 2,375.25, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 0.6 per cent to 6,089.89.

AFP