NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are powering higher at midday as investors welcome a round of strong company earnings reports.

General Electric, Morgan Stanley and Textron all rose after reporting results that were better than analysts expected.

The Dow Jones industrial average was up 294 points, or 1.8 percent, to 16,409 as of 11:57 a.m. Eastern time Friday.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 rose 32 points, or 1.8 percent, to 1,895. The Nasdaq composite rose 70 points, or 1.7 percent, to 4,287.

European markets also made big gains. France’s CAC 40 and Germany’s DAX each rose 3 percent.

The price of oil rose 59 cents to $83.29 a barrel. It’s still down 3 percent for the week.

Bond prices fell. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 2.21 percent.

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