NEW YORK >> Technology stocks, expected to pull the market higher as the economy recovers, showed some of that promise today, rising solidly and helping Wall Street end two days of profit taking. Record durable goods,
techs catapult stocksBy Amy Baldwin
Associated Press
"The market is looking for leadership. Ultimately, that leadership will come from technology," said Ronald J. Hill, investment strategist at Brown Brothers Harriman & Co., reasoning that other industries already have recovered.
The Dow Jones industrial average closed up 117.56 at 9,829.42. The uptick followed two days of profit taking that dragged the Dow down 270 points. The Dow is 19.3 percent above its low of 8,235.81, where it closed Sept. 21 following the terror attacks.
Among the Dow's biggest gainers were its tech components with IBM gaining $2.28 to $114.43, Microsoft rising $2.04 to $64.84 and Hewlett-Packard rising $1.23 to $21.40.
The Nasdaq composite index rose 45.29 to 1,933.26 and the Standard & Poor's 500 index gained 11.69 to 1,140.21.
Advancers outnumbered decliners 3 to 2 on the New York Stock Exchange, with 1,952 up, 1,174 down and 220 unchanged. Volume was 1.35 billion shares vs. 1.41 billion yesterday. The NYSE composite index rose 4.55 to 579.75, the American Stock Exchange composite index jumped 9.40 to 813.39 and the Russell 2000 index rose 9.63 to 463.33.
The Treasury's 2-year note rose 1432 to 99 78; its yield fell 24 basis points to 2.81 percent. The 10-year note gained 1 632 to 101 34; its yield fell 15 basis points to 4.77 percent. The 30-year bond jumped 1 1532 to 101 2732; its yield fell 10 basis points to 5.25 percent. Some of the advance was attributed to a Commerce Department report that durable goods orders soared a record 12.8 percent in October.
"People are becoming more comfortable that the economic downturn is behind us. The stock market is forward looking, and ... the notion is that we have a bottom in place, that we have made our lows," said Brian Belski, fundamental market strategist for US Bancorp Piper Jaffray.
The spike in demand for durable goods was the largest since the government began keeping records based on the current classification system in March 1992 and followed a 9.2 percent drop in September.
Analysts said investors need to keep hearing such positive reports to soothe lingering concerns about excessive inventories and consumer spending, which accounts for two-thirds of the nation's economy.
Among the biggest tech gainers were data storage maker Brocade Communications, which soared 10 percent, up $2.88, to $31.70 after beating fourth-quarter earnings expectations and saying that first-quarter sales could increase modestly over the fourth quarter.
Battered energy trading giant Enron Corp. fell 25 cents, or 41 percent, to 36 cents. NVIDIA Corp. said it has been selected to take Enron's place in the S&P 500.