US stocks surge on China rate cut, tech earnings

New York - US stocks opened solidly higher on Friday after China cut benchmark interest rates and Microsoft and other technology giants reported strong earnings.

Five minutes into trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average stood at 17 614.00, up 124.84 points.

The broad-based S&P 500 rose 0.93% to 2 071.56, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 1.85% to 5 010.83.

The People's Bank of China announced it was reducing lending and deposit interest rates by 0.25 percentage point each and its reserve requirement ratio by 0.50 percentage point in a bid to boost economic growth.

Microsoft surged 10.4% after reporting earnings for the quarter ending September 30 of $4.6bn, up 2% and above expectations.