US stocks surged Friday aiming to break a six-day losing streak, with JPMorgan Chase scoring solid gains despite doubling its loss estimates on its bungled London derivatives trading operation.
At around 10:30 am (16:30 SA time), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 146.71 points (1.17 percent) to 12,719.98.
The S&P 500-stock index added 14.61 (1.09 percent) to 1,349.37, while the tech-rich Nasdaq gained 26.24 (0.92 percent) to 2,892.43.
Stocks got a boost from expectations that Beijing will take more action to stimulate its economy after reporting growth had slowed to 7.6 percent in the second quarter, less than expectations.
“Markets around the world are higher today on hopes China will implement a new stimulus program following its latest GDP miss,” said Briefing.com.
JPMorgan shares rose 3.6 percent to $35.26. The bank reported that it managed a $5 billion second-quarter profit even after accounting for $4.4 billion in losses from its disastrous “London Whale” derivatives hedging operation in April, more than double the previous $2 billion estimate.
Wells Fargo gained 2.2 percent after turning in what it called a record quarterly profit of $4.4 billion, 18 percent higher than a year ago.
Bank of America meanwhile rose 2.0 percent.
Hewlett-Packard was the Dow's only loser, falling 2.5 percent, taking the huge computer maker to a nearly 27 percent loss for the year.
On the Nasdaq, Apple gained 0.5 percent and Microsoft 1.9 percent while Facebook shares were flat.
Bond prices fell. The 10-year Treasury yield rose to 1.51
percent from 1.48 percent Thursday, while the 30-year moved to 2.60 percent from 2.58 percent.
Bond yields go up as prices go down. - Sapa-AFP