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NEW YORK (CNN/Money) -
Stocks rose Friday morning, boosted by Hewlett Packard's strong earnings, GE's forecast and a big deal in the tech sector.
The Dow Jones industrial average (up 61.56 to 10,781.78, Charts), the S&P 500 (up 5.64 to 1,248.44, Charts) index and the Nasdaq composite (up 5.74 to 2,226.20, Charts) all gained in the early going.
Stocks rallied sharply Thursday, with the Nasdaq closing at a fresh 4-1/2 year high. That momentum continued Friday, bolstered by the strong corporate news.
Hewlett-Packard (up $0.91 to $29.91, Research) reported quarterly earnings and revenue late Thursday that topped analysts' average estimates. Shares gained more than 3 percent at the open.
General Electric (up $0.78 to $35.44, Research) upped its 2006 earnings forecast and boosted its dividend and stock buyback plan. The Dow component also agreed to sell most of its reinsurance business to Swiss Re for $6.8 billion. GE rose 2.5 percent.
Tech bellwether Cisco Systems (down $0.23 to $17.14, Research) said it was buying Scientific-Atlanta (up $0.72 to $42.17, Research), a maker of cable television set-top boxes, for $6.9 billion.
On the downside, Walt Disney (down $0.35 to $25.64, Research) reported lower quarterly profit late Thursday, due to weakness in its movie business. Excluding charges, the company reported higher quarterly earnings that improved from a year ago. Shares slipped more than 2 percent.
U.S. light crude oil for December fell 40 cents to trade at $55.96 a barrel in electronic trading.
Treasury prices slipped, raising the yield on the 10-year note to about 4.50 percent from 4.46 percent late Thursday. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
The dollar declined versus the euro and rose versus the yen.
COMEX gold rose $1.50 to $488.40 an ounce.
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