Politics, with its unpredictability, fits of irrationality, and -- let's be honest -- its fair share of scandals, behaves a bit like corporate America. Today, Washington showed not merely its similarity to Wall Street, but its influence over it, as Congress proposed a three-month extension to the debt limit. Markets responded warmly enough, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI -0.12%) rose 53 points, or 0.39%, to close at 13,649, a five-year high. 

But Capitol Hill's suggested short-term debt limit fix wasn't the only thing that got stocks moving. That almighty catalyst known as GLP, or Good Lookin' Profit, had a hand in the bullishness, as well. General Electric's (GE -0.69%) earnings, in particular, turned heads today. Not only did the multinational conglomerate beat analyst expectations, but its future looks bright, too. GE's increasing emerging-market industrial growth helped create $210 billion in backlog orders, which is a company record. 

Caterpillar (CAT -0.43%) shares were quick to follow GE's 3.5% jump with gains of their own, piggybacking on the GE GLPs as an indication of what's to come. Investors clearly think GE's success bodes well for Caterpillar's own quarterly results, coming on Jan. 28. Today's departure of an executive from the company's mining products division didn't seem to irk the markets, judging from the 2% advance.

On a different note, Intel (INTC -1.60%), which was a top Dow gainer yesterday, got absolutely pummeled, after falling profits and disappointing forecasts spooked investors. The company's nearly 30% earnings decline actually beat estimates, but Intel projected much steeper capital expenditures in 2013. The subsequent 6.3% sell-off reflected worries about the future of a business ramping up costs in the face of wavering PC demand. 

Not all of tech suffered a beatdown on Friday, though. Mobile device maker Research in Motion (BB 1.10%) jumped 6.2% on an upgrade from Jefferies. The newest model of RIM's BlackBerry operating system, the BlackBerry 10, is coming out at the end of this month. But the new BlackBerry isn't the sole reason analysts think RIM could recover; if the company makes its email platform compatible with Android and iOS, RIM could see some GLPs of its own.