Dow Jumps Nearly 100 Points On Blue-Chip Earnings; S&P and Nasdaq Close Flat

The Dow Jones Industrial Average surged more than 96 points on Friday, driven by gains in Intel

, Microsoft

and IBM

following strong earnings reports. The widely watched blue-chip index traded in a range between 12,620 and 12,720, closing on its highs for the session. Microsoft shares rose 5.65% to $29.71 while IBM tacked on 4.43% to $188.52. Intel gained 2.93% to $26.38. The SPDR S&P 500 ETF

rose 0.36% to $131.95, but the S&P 500 itself was up less than one point at 1,315. Volume in SPY was very light with just 128.6 million shares trading hands compared to a 3-month daily average of 204.8 million. The PowerShares QQQ Trust ETF

, which tracks the performance of the Nasdaq 100, fell 0.15% to $59.77. Despite the strong performance from INTC and MSFT, the QQQ was dragged down by a 8.38% loss in Google

, which missed Wall Street earnings estimates on Thursday afternoon. Crude oil fell on the day and is now trading below the $100 level. NYMEX crude futures lost 2.07% to $98.46 while ICE Brent contracts shed 1.22% to $110.19. The United States Oil Fund ETF

fell 2.35% to $37.78 on the day. Gold rose on the session, adding to its recent rally. COMEX gold futures climbed 0.76% to $1,667.10. The SPDR Gold Trust ETF

added 0.53% to close at $162.07. COMEX silver futures had an extremely strong day, rising more than 5% to $32.065. U.S. Treasuries continued to fall on Friday. The iShares Barclays 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF

lost 1.13% and closed at $116.98. The yield on the 10-Year Note rose 4.8 basis points to 2.02%. The U.S. Dollar was very marginally higher on the day. The PowerShares DB US Dollar Index Bullish ETF

, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of foreign currencies, added 0.09% to $22.37. The closely watched EUR/USD pair is currently trading at $1.2933.