Stocks Ended Mostly Up, Gained for the Week

U.S. stocks gained on Friday following strong results from General Electric Co. (NYSE:GE). The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 53.68 points, or 0.39%, to end at 13,649.70, leaving it up 1.2% for the week. The S&P 500 index climbed 5.04 points, or 0.34%, to 1,485.98; it posted a weekly gain of 1%. Nasdaq Composite slipped 1.29 points, or 0.04%, to 3,134.71, though it rose 0.3% for the week.

General Electric Co.’s (NYSE: GE) profits jumped 8 percent in the fourth quarter to $4 billion, or 38 cents per share, from $3.7 billion, or 35 cents per share, in the year-earlier period., while revenue rose to $39.3 billion from $38 billion a year ago. Its operating profit was 44 cents per share, a penny higher than the average analysts estimate. Adjusted revenue also beat forecasts, coming in at $38.8 billion.

Top officials at the US Federal Reserve took months to realise that the 2007 financial crisis would rock the world’s largest economy, according to an embarrassing set of meeting transcripts released on Friday.

In almost all U.S. states, jobless rates ended 2012 lower than where they began, according to Labor Department data released on Friday that also showed unemployment rates fell from November in less than half the states. From December 2011, 42 states and the District of Columbia registered unemployment rate decreases from a year earlier while six states recorded increases, and two states had no change, according to the report.

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