NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - A stronger-than-expected consumer sentiment reading helped push U.S. stocks higher early Friday.

Around 10:05 a.m. ET, the Nasdaq composite added 21.10 to 1,261.18. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 59.60 to 8,145.91. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 8.18 to 846.86.

The University of Michigan's final consumer sentiment reading for July came in 88.1, according to Reuters. While that was still below June's 92.4, it was above the original 86.5 reported two weeks earlier.

Tyco International (TYC: up $2.57 to $10.82, Research, Estimates), whose accounting practices have been questioned, has named a new chief executive officer -- Motorola's (MOT: down $1.18 to $11.00, Research, Estimates) former president -- to replace a previous CEO who stepped down a few days before he was indicted for sales tax evasion.

Goldman Sachs upgraded a number of semiconductor equipment companies, including Applied Materials (AMAT: up $0.34 to $14.57, Research, Estimates) and KLA-Tencor (KLAC: down $0.15 to $38.30, Research, Estimates), saying that while fundamentals aren't likely to improve near-term, buying from funds and seasonality may give a boost to the stocks.

European markets fell in midday trading, while Asian stocks closed lower.

Treasury prices fell in early trading, sending the10-year note yield up to 4.39 percent. The dollar gained against the yen and euro, which remained under $1. Brent oil futures fell 14 cents to $25.12 a barrel in London. Gold traded lower in early U.S. trade.