Afternoon Markets: Dow Jones charges on GE upgrade

On Wall Street, shares surged forward in early trading on the back of positive earnings reports for a number of big-name companies across the world.

Shortly after opening, the Dow Jones had jumped more than 111 points, or 1.23%, to 9,182.27. General Electric shares added 6.36% to $13.04 after Goldman Sachs upgraded the shares to ‘buy', with a price target of $15. Elsewhere, Caterpillar and Alcoa made 3.5% gains, to $43.32 and $11.4 respectively. Exxon Mobil shares fell in early trading after the firm revealed a 66% fall in profits linked to low oil prices. It dropped 1.72% to $70.2. London shares continued to rise through Thursday as positive results helped counterbalance poor performance from Reed Elsevier. The FTSE 100 ...