Stocks up

US stocks climbed, with the Dow Jones industrial average up 102.32, at 10,424.62, the Standard & Poor’s 500 index rising 8.99 to 1,102.66 and the Nasdaq composite index up 23.58 to 2,269.47.

GE pays

General Electric Co. raised its dividend by 20 percent to 12 cents, sooner than predicted.

Lifted arches

McDonald’s Corp.’s sec ond-quarter profit rose 12 percent to $1.23 billion from $1.09 billion.

Banks probed

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority is seeking information on synthetic collateralized debt obligations created by Morgan Stanley, Bar clays PLC and Credit Suisse Group AG.

GM bashed

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R.-Iowa) asked the watchdog of the govern ment’s bank-rescue pro gram to probe General Motors Co.’s decision to pay $3.5 billion for a sub prime auto lender.

Verizon rising

Verizon posted sec ond-quarter profit, ex cluding charges, of 58 cents a share, versus 63 cents a year ago, beat ing analysts’ estimates.