NEW YORK (TheStreet) – Stocks continued rising Friday with help from earnings news, even after reports on a drop in consumer confidence and a wider trade deficit.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 100 points, or 1%, to 10,297. The S&P 500 gained 10 points, or 0.9%, to 1097, as the Nasdaq advanced 19 points, or 0.9%, to 2168.
Walt Disney(DIS Quote), the best performer on the Dow at midday, was in the spotlight after the media conglomerate reported an 18% jump in profit and beat earnings forecasts after Thursday’s closing bell. Shares rose $1.33, or 4.6%, to $30.38.

Advances by McDonald’s(MCD Quote), United Technologies(UTX Quote) and DuPont(DD Quote) were also leading the Dow higher.

J.C. Penney(JCP Quote) and Abercrombie & Fitch(ANF Quote) led the biggest gainers on the S&P 500.

J.C. Penneyreported a 78% profit drop, earning $27 million, or 11 cents a share and falling a penny short of expectations. Sales slumped more than 3% to $4.18 billion, just matching the consensus, as the company increased its full-year earnings forecast. Shares rose $2.11, or 7.2%, to $31.50.

Abercrombie & Fitchreported a 39% profit drop showing adjusted earnings of 30 cents a share vs. a 20-cent forecast. Shares were bidding higher by $2.74, or 7.5%, at $39.50.

Agilent Technologies(A Quote), another S&P 500 component, said earnings tumbled 89% to $25 million, or 7 cents a share in the fourth quarter. But after excluding items, Agilent reported adjusted earnings of 32 cents, which beat the average forecast of 23 cents a share. Agilent was up 83 cents, or 3.1%, at $28.26.

Nordstrom(JWN Quote), one of the laggards on the S&P 500, raised its 2009 earnings outlook after Thursday’s closing bell. But it just missed analysts’ profit estimates by a penny in posting earnings of $83 million, or 38 cents a share. Revenue grew 3.5% to $1.87 billion. Shares slipped $1.12, or 3.3%, to $33.39.

The positive performance of the major indices overshadowed more subdued economic data. Government statistics showed the U.S. trade deficit grew to $36.5 billion in September from August’s revised $30.8 billion gap. Economists expected the deficit to widen to $31.8 billion. Auto and auto part imports grew by $1.7 billion.
“The good news is that stronger auto imports are a sign of firmer demand,” writes Stuart Hoffman, chief economist for PNC Financial. But Hoffman also noted the results were boosted by the now-expired Cash-for-Clunker car-rebate program.

“The bad news in the report is that the wider-than-expected trade gap will likely result in a downward revision to third-quarter GDP,” he adds.

In a separate report, U.S. import prices rose 0.7% in October, led largely by a rise in fuel prices. Non-fuel imports rose 0.4%. Export prices also advanced 0.3%.

Consumer confidence dipped in November, as the preliminary consumer sentiment index from the University of Michigan dropped to 66 from 70.6 in October. Analysts expected the metric to grow to 71.

Reports showed that the eurozone emerged from the recession during the third quarter with gross domestic product up 0.4%. The FTSE in London gained 0.4%, as the DAX in Frankfurt went higher by 0.4%.

Stocks in Asia were mixed, as Hong Kong’s Hang Seng advanced 0.7% and Japan’s Nikkei dipped 0.4%.

Crude oil continued sliding from Thursday’s slump, down 45 cents to $76.49 a barrel. Gold recently added $8.10 to $1,114.70 an ounce.

–Written by Sung Moss in New York

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