By Saumya Vaishampayan And Corrie Driebusch
U.S. stocks edged higher Friday, as General Electric Co.'s plans
to exit most of its lending operations buoyed the Dow industrials
and S&P 500.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 19 points, or 0.1%, to
17978. The S&P 500 added 3.9 points, or 0.2%, to 2095 and the
Nasdaq Composite gained 3.9 points, or 0.1%, to 4978.
General Electric's shares surged 8.1% on Friday, leading the Dow
and S&P higher. GE has resolved to part ways with the bulk of
its finance business GE Capital and will sell or spin that part off
over the next two years. The conglomerate has agreed to sell $26.5
billion worth of office buildings and commercial real estate debt
to buyers including Blackstone Group LP and Wells Fargo &
Co.
GE's stock started rising on Thursday on The Wall Street
Journal's report that the company was close to selling all or part
of its real estate holdings. Shares ended the session up 2.9%,
making it one of the top contributors to the Dow.
On Friday, GE's gains added about 14 points to the Dow.
Major stock indexes were on track to post their second week of
gains in a row. The Dow has gained 1.1% this week, through
Thursday's close, after rising 0.3% in the prior week. The S&P
is up 1.2% so far this week, after posting a gain of 0.3% in the
previous week. The Dow is now 1.8% below its record of 18288.63,
while the S&P is 1.2% away from its all-time high of
2117.39.
Recent stock-market moves have been muted. Many investors say
first-quarter reports from companies will be the next driver for
the stock market. Earnings season kicked off this week. The
strength of the U.S. dollar and low oil prices are expected to
weigh on earnings for multinationals and energy companies.
"The market is just waiting to get a sense of all these concerns
about earnings, if it is true or not, and what the Fed is going to
do," said Peter Boockvar, chief market analyst at The Lindsey
Group. "Investors are kind of paralyzed," he added.
European stocks advanced. The Stoxx Europe 600 climbed further
into record territory, up 0.7%. Germany's DAX rose 1.6% and
France's CAC 40 added 0.2%. The euro fell to $1.0623 from $1.0660
on Thursday.
In commodity markets, gold futures added 1.4% to $1210.20 an
ounce. Crude-oil futures gained 1.2% to $51.38 a barrel.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury note was at 1.926%, compared
with 1.957% on Thursday. Yields fall as prices rise.
In other corporate news, Citrix Systems cut its first-quarter
profit and sales outlook, noting the negative impact of a strong
U.S. dollar. Shares fell 5%.
Gap Inc. said its same-store sales for March rose more than
expected on strong sales at Old Navy Stores, but shares fell 3.6%
as the namesake chain logged an "extremely disappointing"
same-store sales drop from a month prior.
Write to Saumya Vaishampayan at saumya.vaishampayan@wsj.com and
Corrie Driebusch at corrie.driebusch@wsj.com
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