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NEW YORK -- Buyers returned to Wall Street for a second straight day today, bidding stocks higher on hopes the market has bottomed and the economy is turning around. Dow up 28.92
Associated Press
Investors' optimism allowed them to focus most of their buying on riskier tech stocks and the more economically sensitive blue chips such as consumer cyclicals.
The Dow Jones industrial average gained 28.92 to close at 10,591.22. The Nasdaq composite index advanced 61.51 to 2,204.43 and the Standard & Poor's 500 index moved up 12.39 to 1,253.80.
Advancers led decliners on the New York Stock Exchange with 1,854 up, 1,193 down and 205 unchanged at the close. Volume was 1.09 billion shares, up from 926 million yesterday, when many traders stayed home because of snow storms in the Northeast.
The NYSE composite index gained 3.33 to 632.18. The American Stock Exchange index gained 1.97 to 928.94 and the Russell 2000 index climbed 5.10 at 481.13.
The Treasury's 10-year note rose 1/32 to 100 7/32; its yield was unchanged at 4.97 percent. The 30-year bond fell 1/32 to 99 31/32; its yield was unchanged at 5.38 percent.
Stocks continued to rise despite bleak earnings outlooks, which some analysts say is a sign the market is ready for a longer-term rally. More conservative analysts, however, say the buying is temporary, a so-called bear market rally.
"I think that, at least for the Old Economy names, this (rally) could be for real. We're starting to get a lot of fundamental signs that maybe things are about to turn better," said James Meyer, director of research at Janney Montgomery Scott.
Stocks also rose overseas, boosting Japan's Nikkei stock average by 3.0 percent. In Europe, Britain's FT-SE 100 gained 1.4 percent, France's CAC-40 rose 1.6 percent, and Germany's DAX index advanced 1.1 percent.