Stocks Finished Sharply Higher on Earnings

Stocks rose sharply on Friday, boosted from upbeat earnings reports from heavyweights, such as General Electric and Morgan Stanley. The Dow Jones industrial average ended up 263.17 points, or 1.63%, to close at 16,380.41.The Standard & Poor’s 500 finished up 24.00 points, or 1.29%, to 1886.76. The Nasdaq composite closed up 41.05 points, or 0.97%, to end at 4258.44.

General Electric Co reported a slightly higher-than-expected quarterly profit on Friday, as cost cuts that helped boost margins across its industrial businesses offset revenue that fell below analysts’ targets. GE’s third-quarter net income rose to $3.54 billion, or 35 cents per share, from $3.19 billion, or 31 cents per share, a year earlier.Revenue rose 1 percent to $36.17 billion, below the $36.79 billion that analysts expected.

Morgan Stanley reported third quarter earnings results that were stronger than what Wall Street analysts had expected. Morgan Stanley reported $8.9 billion in third quarter revenue, a nearly-$1 billion increase over both revenue reported for the year-ago quarter and the $7.98 billion Street consensus. Net income came in at $1.7 billion, nearly double the $889 million reported this time in 2013 and a figure that resulted in earnings of 84 cents per share, an 87% surge over earnings per share in the prior-year period.