U.S. stocks rebound to end the week higher

NEW YORK - Investors jumped on a wave of strong corporate financial results Friday, propelling stocks higher for the third time in five days.

Earnings gains from Google (GOOG), Honeywell (HON) and other big U.S. companies drove the stock market to a higher close, wiping out much of its loss from the day before. That helped stocks end the week with overall gains, despite Thursday's gut-wrenching events.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 123 points, or 0.7 percent, to end at 17,097.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 20 points, or 1 percent, to close at 1,978. The Nasdaq composite rose 68 points, or 1.6 percent, finishing at 4,432.

Markets recovered a day after being rattled by the downing of a passenger jet over eastern Ukraine and Israel's launch of a ground offensive into Gaza.

Those worries appeared to ease Friday, as world leaders called for an immediate cease-fire in the region and international attention turned toward the task of determining what led to the aircraft being shot down. Investors turned their attention to the latest encouraging company earnings.

"Typically when these events hit the news, it's kind of a sell-now, ask-questions-later moment, and then there is a reassessment, and that's exactly what we had," said Quincy Krosby, market strategist at Prudential Financial. "Today, the market focused again on earnings, which for the most part were good, surprising to the upside, and the markets just basically got back to their normal business."

The Conference Board's latest index of leading indicators, designed to predict the economy's trajectory, stoked the market further. The index climbed in June for the fifth consecutive month. At the same time, investors brushed off a preliminary report showing consumer confidence dipped slightly.

Honeywell International rose 1.7 percent, or $1.65, to close at $96.82 after reporting that its income rose sharply in the latest quarter. Google rose 3.7 percent, or $21.35, to close at $595.08 after reporting its results Thursday evening.

Bond prices fell. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 2.48 percent from 2.45 percent late Thursday.

All 10 sectors in the S&P 500 rose, led by health care. The sector is up 10.6 percent this year.