(MENAFN- AFP) US stocks rose early Friday after China cut benchmark interest rates and Microsoft and other technology giants reported strong earnings.
About 45 minutes into trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average stood at 17,612.23, up 123.07 points (0.70 percent).
The broad-based S&P 500 rose 18.51 (0.90 percent) to 2,071.02, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 94.07 (1.91 percent) to 5,014.12.
The People's Bank of China announced it was reducing lending and deposit interest rates by 0.25 percentage point each and its reserve requirement ratio by 0.50 percentage point in a bid to boost economic growth.
Microsoft surged 11.2 percent after reporting earnings for the quarter ending September 30 of $4.6 billion, up two percent and above expectations.
Google parent Alphabet soared 8.8 percent after it reported a 45 percent jump in profit to $3.98 billion on revenue that was up 13 percent to $18.67 billion in the third quarter as it capitalizes on hot trends in mobile search and streaming video.
Amazon gained 6.5 percent following a surprise third-quarter profit of $79 million on a 23 percent year-on-year gain in total sales to $25.4 billion. Analysts had forecast a quarterly loss.
The tech earnings were "really good," adding to the momentum from the China rate hike, said Briefing.com analyst Patrick O'Hare.
"Frankly, there is a perfect mix today for risk-on behavior," O'Hare said.
Tech shares were broadly stronger, including Apple (+2.1 percent), Facebook (+0.9 percent), Netflix (+1.3 percent) and Yahoo (+3.6 percent).
Dow member Procter & Gamble rose 3.0 percent after it reported earnings from continuing operations that translated into 98 cents per share, three cents better than analyst expectations.
Pandora Media plummeted 33.9 percent as it reported a third-quarter net loss of $85.9 million. RBC Capital Markets downgraded the Internet radio company, citing increased competition from Apple and Spotify.
Bond prices fell. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury rose to 2.08 percent from 2.02 percent Thursday, while the 30-year advanced to 2.91 percent from 2.86 percent. Bond prices and yields move inversely.
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