Stocks Open Higher; Google Rallies

U.S. stocks opened tentatively higher on Friday as investors assessed mixed earnings reports from companies such as General Electric Company and Google Inc. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lately added 49.41 points, or 0.29%, to 17,026.22. The S&P 500 was up 5.92 points, or 0.30%, to 1,964.04. The Nasdaq Composite gained 17.92 points, or 0.41%, to 4,381.37.

General Electric Co (GE) reported a 13-percent jump in quarterly net income Friday on improved sales of its jet engines and oil and gas equipment. GE’s second-quarter net income rose to $3.55 billion, or 35 cents per share,
from $3.13 billion, or 30 cents a share, a year earlier.Revenue rose 3.4 percent to $36.23 billion.

Google Inc. reported second-quarter revenue that exceeded Wall Street expectations. Google posted net income of
$3.42 billion, or $4.99 a share, up from $3.23 billion, or $4.77 a share, in the same period a year earlier. Revenue climbed 22% to $15.96 billion, from $13.1 billion.

Amazon.com Inc. formally said it would offer an unlimited reading and audiobook listening service for Kindle and non-Amazon mobile devices, a move Wall Street anticipates to spur as much as $1 billion in top-line growth
for the company.

U.S. drug maker AbbVie has agreed to buy Shire Pharmaceuticals in a deal valued at nearly $55 billion, becoming
the latest example of U.S. company seeking tax savings through a merger with a foreign partner.