Stocks have fallen recently on mixed economic news and anxiety over second-quarter results, which companies will be reporting over the next three weeks. With so much uncertainty, investors have been wary of making commitments, but the news from GE restored some confidence.

"We've had a pretty tough week, with the Nasdaq down 3 1/2 percent in just three days," said Todd Clark, of Wells Fargo Securities. "Obviously GE helped (today) O but it's very tentative. I couldn't tell you that demand for equities is strong. I just think some of the selling pressure has abated."According to preliminary results, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 41.66, or 0.4 percent, to 10,213.22, after declines in four of the last five sessions.

The broader gauges were also higher. The Nasdaq composite index added 11.01, or 0.6 percent, to 1,946.33. The Standard & Poor's 500 index was up 3.70, or 0.3 percent, at 1,112.81.

For the week, the Dow was down 0.7 percent. The S&P shed 1.1 percent and the Nasdaq fell 3 percent. All three indexes declined the previous week.

Investors have become increasingly pessimistic as profit warnings pile up, notably from the tech sector. Most analysts remain upbeat, however, expecting earnings growth of 18 percent to 20 percent overall for the S&P 500.

"The earnings reports are largely going to be good because the economy has been decent in the past three months," said Ken Tower, chief market strategist for Schwab's CyberTrader. "What's worrying the market is what earnings are going to be, and we've seen a number of economic data in the last two weeks that show the economy cooling off."

General Electric gained 47 cents to $32.17 after reporting a 3 percent rise in earnings, beating Wall Street's expectations by a penny a share. Revenues climbed 11 percent, and nine of the conglomerate's 11 business units posted double-digit growth."

Information technology provider Unisys Corp. was among the day's worst performers, declining $1.99 to $10.87, after the company said its profits and sales will miss forecasts because of unexpected contract deferrals and delays.

Advancing shares outnumbered decliners more than 3 to 2 on the New York Stock Exchange. Volume was light.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller company stocks, was up 3.02, or 0.5 percent, at 563.73.