General Electric Gains Boost U.S. Stocks; Gold Hits One-Month High; Fed Comments Continue to Bring U.S. Dollar Down

General Electric Gains Boost U.S. Stocks

U.S. stocks rose Friday, as General Electric’s 4.6% gain offset losses by Google and Microsoft.  “Earnings have held up reasonably well,” said Henk Potts, an equity strategist at Barclays Plc. “We’ve seen some winners and some losers coming through. There has been disappointment around technology, but we don’t necessarily think that is going to be a long-term trend.”

Gold Hits One-Month High (CNBC)
On Friday, gold went up 1% to reach a one-month high, as it benefited from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s remarks earlier this week. “Bernanke told the Senate Banking Committee yesterday it was ‘way too early to make any judgment’ as to whether tapering will start in September,” Afshin Nabavi, head of trading at MKS in Switzerland, said. “I take that as positive for gold.”

Fed Comments Continue to Bring U.S. Dollar Down (Bloomberg)
After Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke reassured investors that federal tapering was not imminent, the dollar fell against foreign currencies Friday. “The U.S. dollar is softer overall,” Nick Bennenbroek, head of currency strategy at Wells Fargo Securities LLC in New York, said. “We still lean toward gains in the U.S. dollar over time, anticipating that the Fed will shift gradually to a tapering of its bond purchase program.”