General Electric Co (NYSE:GE) announced today that they would be raising their dividend by 20%, motivating investors to bump their price by just over 3%. While this means their dividend is still lower than it was in 2009 before they were forced to reduce it, the increase indicates a positive financial development for the company and a possible indication of positive economic movement for the country.
In further good news today, European bank stress test results were released. Of the 91 banks that were tested, only 7 failed and none of those that failed were major banks. While this news doesn’t erase Ireland and Greece’s debt concerns or Hungary’s deficit problem, it does indicate that the country may be on firmer financial footing than some analysts and investors feared. Despite the good news, European markets were mixed Friday with the FTSE 100 closing down. Asian markets were up.
Between the GE dividend and the positive news from Europe, investors in the U.S. continued to buy and the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 102.32 points to close at 10,424.62. The Nasdaq was up 23.58 points and closed at 2,269.47 while the S&P 500 closed at 1,102.66 up 8.99 points.
