NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are rising Friday morning and financial stocks are leading the way after some of the largest banks reported strong third-quarter results. Technology and industrial stocks are making big gains as investors were pleased with economic reports from the U.S. and China.
KEEPING SCORE: The Dow Jones industrial average jumped 156 points, or 0.9 percent, to 18,254 as of 10:20 a.m. Eastern time. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index gained 16 points, or 0.8 percent, to 2,148. The Nasdaq composite climbed 44 points, or 0.9 percent, to 5,257. Stocks are on track to wipe out most of their losses from earlier this week.
BANKS MAKE IT COUNT: JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup’s results were better than investors expected. JPMorgan, the largest U.S. bank, set aside more money to cover loans that could go bad, but it reported a big gain in deposits and originated more mortgages. Citigroup reported better results from its consumer banking business.
JPMorgan Chase stock rose 66 cents, or 1 percent, to $68.40 and Citigroup added 92 cents, or 1.9 percent, to $49.39. Goldman Sachs gained $4.56, or 2.7 percent, to $171.98.
Wells Fargo’s results were solid, but there were signs its sales practice scandal was starting to affect its business as fewer people came to its banks, opened checking accounts and applied for credit cards.
US ECONOMY HOPES: The Commerce Department said retail sales bounced back in September. They rose 0.6 percent as spending on restaurants, cars and gas improved. Investors were concerned when retail sales fell in August. The agency also said business stockpiles and sales grew in August, which is a sign that economic growth could get stronger over the last few months of the year.
The Labor Department said producer prices rose in September as the cost of energy and food increased, but inflation appeared to remain limited.
CHINA INFLATION: Consumer prices in China rose 1.9 percent in September, which was better than experts expected. That suggests consumers in China are starting to spend more. Another measure of inflation, the producer price index, rose for the first time since 2012. That could result in factories in China starting to pass rising costs to their consumers.
Stocks fell Thursday as a report on imports and exports caused investors to worry that China’s economic is weakening. Some of the largest losses went to tech companies, as China is a major market for them.
GE picked up 18 cents to $28.96 and Honeywell added 86 cents to $109.12. Apple rebounded 46 cents to $117.44 while eBay gained 53 cents, or 1.7 percent, to $32.04 and Microsoft climbed 55 cents, or 1 percent, to $57.47.
BONDS: Bond prices fell. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note edged up to 1.76 percent from 1.75 percent.
PRINTER JAM: Computer and printer maker HP said it will cut between 3,000 and 4,000 jobs over the next three years as demand for those products continues to fall. The company is trying to sell more high-end PCs, office printers and 3D printing systems as more people use smartphones and store documents and photos online. HP stock lost 31 cents, or 2.1 percent, to $14.84.
INFOSYS IN TROBLE: Business consulting services company Infosys again cut its annual revenue projections after its second-quarter sales fell short of estimates. The stock shed 84 cents, or 5 percent, to 15.81.
ENERGY: Energy prices were little changed. U.S. crude oil rose 3 cents to $50.47 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, the international standard, fell 17 cents to $51.86 a barrel in London.
CURRENCIES: The dollar rose to 104.24 yen from 103.60 yen. The euro fell to $1.1025 from $1.1053.
OVERSEAS: France’s CAC 40 jumped 1.9 percent and the DAX in Germany rose 1.8 percent. Britain’s FTSE 100 advanced 1 percent. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index added 0.5 percent and South Korea’s Kospi advanced 0.4 percent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 0.9 percent. Thailand’s SET index climbed 4.7 percent in the second day of trading after the death of Thailand’s king. The SET fell 4 percent in September as investors worried about the monarch’s health and even with the rally Friday the index fell 1.8 percent this week.
___
AP Markets Writer Marley Jay can be reached at http://twitter.com/MarleyJayAP His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/journalist/marley-jay
