NEW YORK, US - US stocks got a lift Friday from strong corporate news and data showing a rise in global trade flows, helping Wall Street cap a second straight week of solid gains.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 73.00 points (0.72 percent) to close at 10,270.47, rebounding from its first loss in seven sessions on Thursday and giving the blue chips a weekly gain of 2.46 percent.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq added 18.86 points (0.88 percent) to 2,167.99 and the broad Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 6.24 points (0.57 percent) to 1,093.48.

Momentum was helped by results late Thursday from Disney, which reported a quarterly profit of 895 million US dollars that was down 25 percent from a year ago but better than expectations.

Other firms, including retailer Abercrombie & Fitch, and Agilent Technologies also delivered solid results.

"Positive earnings offset a weaker than expected reading of consumer confidence," said Scott Marcouiller at Wells Fargo Advisors.

Disappointing the market was the University of Michigan survey on consumer sentiment, whose index fell to 66.0 from 70.6 in October, and caused the market to waver.

A separate report showed the US trade gap rose to 36.5 billion US dollars. Although a higher trade deficit is normally negative, the data "is being viewed by the market in a positive context given its underlying message conveying a pickup in global trade," said Patrick O'Hare at Briefing.com.

Other analysts pointed out that a higher deficit would lead to lower US economic activity and a possible downgrade to gross domestic product.

"The widening deficit is a warning that as US domestic demand increases, imports will bounce more than exports," said economist Nigel Gault at IHS Global Insight.

"That means that the trade deficit will keep widening, and that trade will be a drag on growth."

Among stocks in focus, Disney rallied 4.78 percent to 30.44 US dollars after the media-entertainment giant beat most forecasts for quarterly earnings, helped by strong results from its broadcast units.

In retail, JC Penney leapt 6.19 percent to 31.21 US dollars after the discount chain reported earnings shy of expectations but said it improved profit margins and kept its guidance forecasts for the coming months.

Specialty retailer Abercrombie & Fitch surged 10.66 percent to 40.68 US dollars after its forecast-beating results.

Agilent rallied 4.3 percent to 28.61 US dollars after the maker of electronic testing equipment reported profits better than market forecasts and raised its guidance.

Dow component McDonald's added 2.27 percent to 63.58 US dollars after upbeat comments from its executives about growth targets.

Bonds firmed. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury bond eased to 3.429 percent from 3.446 percent Thursday and that on the 30-year bond dropped to 4.356 percent from 4.386 percent. Bond yields and prices move in opposite
directions. --AFP