Upbeat earnings, ease in tensions bolster stocks

new york » U.S. stocks rose Thursday, sending the Standard& Poor’s 500 index to its best week since July, as earnings from General Electric and Morgan Stanley beat estimates and concern eased that the Ukraine crisis may worsen. Markets were closed in observance of Good Friday.

GE climbed 1.7 percent after results beat forecasts. Morgan Stanley added 2.9 percent as a gain in trading revenue helped profit top estimates. Google and International Business Machines slid at least 3.3 percent as sales trailed projections.

The S&P 500 rose 0.1 percent to 1,864.85, extending its gain for the week to 2.7 percent. TheDowJones industrial average fell 16.31 points, or 0.1 percent, to 16,408.54. IBM, which accounts for 7.4 percent of the Dow, took 41 points off the index’s total on Thursday. About 6.2 billion shares changed hands onU.S. exchanges, 8.6 percent below the three-month average.

“Any deceleration of the conflict will be a relief for the market,” Terry Morris, a senior equity manager who helps oversee about $2.8 billion atWyomissing, Pa.-based National Penn Investors Trust, said in a phone interview. “Combine the ease of the tension between Russia and Ukraine and generally a positive tone of earnings, the result is an upward-drifting market.”

Equities turned higher after four-way talks on the crisis in Ukraine ended with an accord aimed at taking the first steps toward de-escalating the conflict.

The S&P 500 rose each day last week to erase its decline for the year.