US stocks jump on strong earnings

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 44.76 points (0.36 percent) to stand at 12,481.88 after the first half-hour of trading.

The broader S&P 500 rose 6.31 points (0.48 percent) to 1,315.18, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite climbed 13.71 points (0.50 percent) to 2,776.38.

Banking giant Citigroup said that second-quarter net income came in at $3.3 billion, a jump of 24 percent from the same period last year, as its revenues beat analysts' expectations.

Late on Thursday, Internet giant Google reported that its Q2 profit climbed to $2.51 billion on record-high revenue of more than $9 billion.

Google stock surged 12.0 percent by 1400 GMT, while Citigroup stock was up 1.6 percent.

Toy-maker Mattel, creator of the Barbie doll, rallied 3.7 percent after reporting that second-quarter net income grew 56 percent from the same period last year.

The upbeat reports boosted stocks despite grim news from Washington, where Democrats and Republicans remain deadlocked in talks on raising the debt limit to avert a potentially disastrous US government default by August 2.

Moody's and Standard & Poor's both warned this week that the US government may lose its top-notch triple-A credit rating, which would likely wreak havoc on financial markets.

"The debt limit issue is hanging like a dark cloud over the market," said Patrick O'Hare of Briefing.com.

"There is uncertainty as to whether it is going to rain down on the market or if the sun will peak through and prevent a rainstorm."

Bond prices fell. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 2.98 percent from 2.94 percent late Thursday, while that on the 30-year bond climbed to 4.30 percent from 4.24 percent.

Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011