Stocks Are Rallying Into The Weekend

The Dow is up 121 points, the S&P 500 is 19 points, and the Nasdaq is up 65 points.

On a percentage basis, the Nasdaq is leading the day's gains, with the tech index currently up more than 1.5%. Some of the Nasdaq's biggest gainers include Google, up more than 4% after last night reporting earnings per share that missed expectations but revenue that beat estimates.

Other Nasdaq gainers include Gilead Sciences, up nearly 5%, and Facebook, up better than 2.5%.

In economic news, the University of Michigan's preliminary consumer confidence survey for July missed expectations, coming in at 81.2 down from 82.5 in June. Expectations were for a reading of 83.0.

In stock news, AbbVie reached an agreement to acquire Shire in a $55 billion pharmaceutical merger that will allow the company to move its tax base from the U.S. to the U.K.

The volatility index, or VIX, is also down 16% after surging more than 30% yesterday.

Yesterday, the S&P 500 broke its 62-session streak of not closing up or down more than 1%, and after falling 1.2% yesterday, the benchmark index is currently flirting with logging gains better than 1% in the week's final trading day.