Wall Street cheers new home sales

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- A stronger-than-expected new home sales report sent stocks higher Friday morning, though the gains were limited by a runup in oil prices and ongoing concerns about the tightening credit markets.

The Dow Jones industrial average (up 11.55 to 13,247.43, Charts) climbed 0.4 percent, the broader S&P 500 (up 1.67 to 1,464.17, Charts) index gained 0.4 percent and the tech-fueled Nasdaq Composite (down 1.97 to 2,539.73, Charts) added 0.2 percent. Stocks had opened modestly lower then turned higher after the new home sales numbers.

Stocks were mixed Thursday after dour comments by the CEO of troubled mortgage lender Countrywide Financial revived investor worries about the ongoing turmoil in the credit and mortgage markets.

Those concerns lingered Friday, but were somewhat tempered by some upbeat economic and corporate news.

July durable goods orders jumped 5.9 percent, easily topping economists' forecasts for a rise of 1.4 percent.

And July new home sales rose 2.8 percent to an 870,000 annual sales pace, beating forecasts for a drop to 825,000.

On the corporate front, Gap (up $0.93 to $18.33, Charts, Fortune 500) reported quarterly earnings late Thursday that topped estimates, on revenue that missed estimates. Gap also boosted its fiscal 2008 earnings guidance. Shares gained over 3 percent Friday morning.

Treasury prices rose, lowering the yield on the 10-year note to 4.62 percent from about 4.64 percent late Thursday. Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions.

In currency trading, the dollar slipped versus the euro and the yen.

U.S. light crude oil for October delivery rose $1.02 to $70.85 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.