Dow Rises for Eighth Week in Row

NEW YORK (TheStreet) - The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose on Friday, thanks to an earnings-inspired rally in General Electric(GE), but the Nasdaq Composite continued to slip.

The Dow gained 49 points, or 0.4%, to close at 11,872, after rising as high as 11,905 earlier in the session. The S&P 500 was higher by 3 points, or 0.2%, at 1283, but the Nasdaq Composite fell 15 points, or 0.5%, to finish at 2689, losing ground for a third straight session.

The Dow gained for the eight week in a row, adding 0.7% to close at a new 30-month high of 11,872. The S&P 500 snapped its winning streak, losing 0.7% of its value over the week. The Nasdaq was the weakest of the major U.S. equity indices, shedding more than 2% this past week.

Earnings reported so far have been largely positive but the reports have been weighted heavily towards financials, which were expected to beat expectations.

Jim Paulsen, of Wells Capital Management says stocks are still cheap on a one-year forward basis. "The S&P is still down 20% from all-time highs. Yet earnings are up 50% from the previous peak. At the same time bond yields have fallen by half," said Paulsen. "There is still a lot of room for stocks to rise."

Shares of General Electric powered the Dow's gains Friday, jumping 7.1% to $19.74, after the company beat analysts' estimates with earnings of 36 cents on sales of $41.1 billion. Wall Street had been expecting earnings of 32 cents a share on sales of $39.9 billion.

In addition, President Obama tabbed GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt as the head of his Council on Jobs and Competitiveness.

3M(MMM), American Express(AXP), Chevron(CVX), Exxon Mobil(XOM), Hewlett- Packard(HPQ), JPMorgan Chase(JPM) and Walt Disney(DIS) all rose more than 1% as gainers outpaced decliners, 18 to 12, among the blue chips.