NEW YORK, Sept 22: US stocks gained ground on Friday as upbeat corporate earnings reports helped extend this week’s powerful rally celebrating a Federal Reserve interest-rate cut.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 53.49 points (0.39 per cent) to close at 13,820.19 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq climbed 16.93 points (0.64 per cent) to 2,671.22.

The broad-market Standard & Poor’s 500 index advanced 6.97 points (0.46 per cent) to 1,525.72.

The surge was triggered by the Fed’s reduction Tuesday of its base federal funds rate by a hefty half point, to 4.75 per cent. The Fed had held the rate steady at 5.25 per cent since June 2003.

On the happy side, the recent Fed rate cut reduces substantially the risk of a recession and immediately improved spirits in the credit market, said Al Goldman of AG Edwards.—AFP