Markets cheered by General Electric and Bank of America figures

Better than expected results from General Electric and Bank of America continue the theme of a positive second quarter US reporting season. General Electric reported a 16% rise in second quarter profit, with earnings per share of 30 cents compared to expectations of 27 cents. Meanwhile Bank of America has just unveiled net income of $3.1bn or 27 cents a share, beating forecasts of 22 cents a share. So Wall Street is now forecast to edge higher at the open, while the FTSE 100 has climbed 56.08 points to 5267.37. BP , up 15.25p at 417p accounts for around 11.5 points of the gain.