The Good News is...

That the bad news isn't so bad after all;

Stronger earnings from JPMorgan Chase and other big banks launched a stock market rally Friday.

JPMorgan surged 6 percent, by far the biggest gain in the Dow Jones industrial average. The Dow jumped 183 points to 12,761 shortly after noon Eastern. The Dow is coming off a six-day slump, the longest losing streak since mid-May.

JPMorgan, the country's biggest bank, earned $5 billion in the most recent quarter, easily beating Wall Street's forecasts. That came as a big relief to investors who had been worrying about weaker earnings at major U.S. companies.

Investors were also relieved that JPMorgan's trading loss wasn't as bad as the most dire predictions. JPMorgan revealed that the loss from a complex trade it first disclosed in May had grown to $5.8 billion, nearly triple the original estimate. JPMorgan's stock shot up $2.07 to $36.12.