Stock markets held on to moderate gains Friday as investors were buoyed by a strong second-quarter report from General Electric, which took their minds off a series of earnings warnings earlier this week, mainly from tech companies.

The S&P TSX closed up 52.80, or 0.63%, to 8,473.18. The TSX Venture Exchange added 8.18, or 0.52%, finishing the day at 1,582.97. Only two of the 13 sub-indices of the TSX Composite Index finished in the red. The financials sub-index was among the winners, adding 0.67%.

The dollar declined slightly down from US75.88¢ Thursday to US75.84¢ Friday.

Investors in the U.S. and Canada were pleased with GE reporting that second-quarter earnings rose 3% to US$3.9 billion, beating the Street’s expectations. Revenue climbed 11% to US$3.92 billion. Meanwhile, GE’s CEO, Jim Immelt said he believes that this “is the best economy we’ve seen in years.”

In the U.S., the Dow Jones industrial average added 41.66 points, or 0.41%, climbing to 10,213.22. The S&P 500 Index crept up 3.70 points, or 0.33%, to 1,112.81. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 11.01 points, or 0.57%, at 1,946.33.

For the week, the Dow ended down 0.6%, while the Nasdaq fell 3%, and the S&P 500 index dropped 1%.

In Canada, investors were boosted today by a major economic report from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp., which said low mortgage rates, improving employment and strong consumer confidence kept the housing sector going strong in June – the strongest mid-year level since 1987.