Traders shook off a steady drumbeat of negative economic and earnings news on Tuesday to end a four-day losing streak for the stock market.
Stocks got a boost after Saddam Hussein failed to show up for a TV appearance, re-igniting speculation that the Iraqi leader may be incapacitated.
The Nasdaq rose 7 to 1348, the S&P 500 gained 10 to 858, and the Dow climbed 77 to 8069. Volume rose to 1.43 billion shares on the NYSE, but declined to 1.41 billion on the Nasdaq. Advancers led 22-10 on the NYSE, and 18-12 on the Nasdaq. Upside volume was 71% on the NYSE, and 56% on the Nasdaq. New highs-new lows were 70-29 on the NYSE, and 83-60 on the Nasdaq.
After the close, Qwestsaid it will file its annual report late.
During the day, Amazonand Yahoofell on valuation downgrades. Yahoo reports earnings April 9, and Amazon April 24.
IBMslipped on earnings concerns. The company reports April 14.
Computer Associatesand EDSslipped as they tried to cut costs to deal with stagnant IT spending.
AMDgained 1.8% after officially launching a new company with Fujitsu.
eBay, up 0.8%, is ending its ad sales deal with AOL.
Overturetacked on 0.6% after expanding into Korea with MSN.
Adaptec, up 2%, is acquiring a European storage company.
Market Commentary: For our free daily market commentary and technical analysis, please visit the InternetStockReport.com home page at:
http://www.InternetStockReport.com.