Mixed earnings reports – with General Electric and McDonald’s beating expectations, while Caterpillar fell short – held back US markets on Friday, though Microsoft gave Nasdaq a solid boost.

Caterpillar’s poor quarter helped knock the Dow Jones Industrial Average of 30 blue chips off 43.25 points (0.34 per cent) to close at 12,681.16.

The broader S&P 500 added 1.22 points (0.09 per cent) to 1,345.02, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite jumped 24.40 points (0.86 per cent) to stand at 2,858.83.

“Markets ended the week in a mixed mood, cheered by earnings that have generally beaten expectations and a plan to address the sovereign debt woes in Europe, but suffering from trepidation with a lack of resolution on an agreement regarding the US debt ceiling,” said analysts at Charles Schwab.

US industrial bellwether Caterpillar said second-quarter profits surged 44 per cent from a year ago to $1.01 billion.

But the results fell short of Wall Street expectations and sent its stock plummeting 5.8 per cent to $105.15, dragging down the Dow index.

Closely watched GE said its second-quarter profit rose 21 per cent from a year ago to $3.76 billion, beating analysts’ forecasts, while McDonald’s profit rose 15 per cent to $1.41 billion.

Trading wise, though, the two diverged: GE shares lost 0.63 per cent for the day, at $19.04, while McDonald’s rose 2.3 per cent to $88.56.

Microsoft shares rose 1.6 per cent to $27.53. The software giant reported Thursday after the market closed that income surged 23 per cent to $23.15 billion in its fiscal year ending June 30.

While traders were encouraged by Europe’s 11th hour grand deal for a new Greek bailout on Thursday, the market continued to operate under the shadow of the political stalemate over raising the US debt ceiling, with the August 2 deadline moving closer.

If the US debt ceiling is not raised by then, the country will have to slash spending and could be forced to default on its debt.

Bond prices rose. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 2.96 per cent from 3.01 per cent late Thursday, while the 30-year bond dropped to 4.26 per cent from 4.32 per cent.

Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions.