Markets close higher Friday

NEW YORK, Jan. 20 (UPI) -- U.S. markets closed higher Friday for the fourth consecutive day at the height of the fourth-quarter corporate reporting season.

While IBM showed strong earnings that pushed blue-chip stocks higher, weaker-than-expected revenues were reported from General Electric and Google, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Also failing to impress observers, the National Association of Realtors said existing home sales in December rose to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.61 million homes. Although it was a 5 percent increase over November, economists had expected a slightly higher sales rate.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 96.50 or 0.8 percent to end Friday at a six-month high of 12,720.48. The Standard & Poor's 500 index turned positive at the end of the day to gain 0.88 points or 0.1 percent to 1,315.38. The Nasdaq composite index lost 1.63 points or 0.1 percent to 2,786.70. It was the third straight week of gains for all three measures.

The Wall Street Journal said the broad market for U.S. stocks posted the best start to a new year in 15 years.

On the New York Stock Exchange, 1,745 stocks advanced and 1,261 declined on a volume of 3.75 billion shares traded.

The benchmark 10-year treasury note yield was 2.03 percent.

The euro fell to $1.2924 from Thursday's 1.2969. Against the yen, the dollar fell to 77.08 yen from Thursday's 77.11 yen.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 index added 1.47 percent, 126.68, to 8,766.36.

In London, the FTSE 100 index rose 0.22 percent, 12.60, to 5,728.55.