NEW YORK – Stocks are moving higher in early trading as investors respond to some surprisingly strong earnings from U.S. companies.
Nike rose 4 percent and Darden Restaurants gained 2 percent in the first few minutes of trading Friday after reporting quarterly results that beat analysts' expectations.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 109 points, or 0.6 percent, to 18,074 as of 9:35 a.m.
The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 11 points, or 0.6 percent, to 2,101.
The Nasdaq rose 38 points, or 0.8 percent, to 5,029.
Crude oil rose 96 cents to $46.52 a barrel in New York.
The dollar rose 1 percent against the euro.
Bond prices rose. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 1.93 percent.
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