The Dow Jones industrial average gained 1.81 to close at 5,551.74. The barometer of big U.S. companies traded in a narrow range in a fairly calm session after plunging 70 points yesterday mostly on a sell-off in IBM shares.

Advancers led decliners by about 9 to 7 on the New York Stock Exchange, with 1,293 up, 1,009 down and 835 unchanged. Big Board volume totaled 410.90 million shares, vs. 452.99 million yesterday.

The NYSE's composite rose 0.83 to 345.39. The Standard & Poor's 500 index climed 2.00 to 643.61. The Nasdaq composite rose 12.55 to 1,133.42; The American Stock Exchange index gained 2.70 to 583.08.

The technology-heavy Nasdaq composite jumped back into record territory as key industry issues such as Intel, Sun Microsystems and Microsoft resumed their recent market leadership.

Some of today's softness in blue-chip issues was attributed to another weak day in the bond market. Bonds fell after a Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia report showed signs of a pickup in mid-Atlantic manufacturing. This report deepened concern the economy is heating up enough to send the inflation rate higher.

Bond traders have been concerned that recent signs of economic strength may lead to inflation, which hurts the value of fixed-income investments such as bonds.

By late today, the 30-year bond dropped about 3/8, or $3.75 per $1,000 bond, pushing its yield up 3 basis points to 6.83 percent.