NEW YORK, Sept 7 (AFP) - US stocks came out of a holiday weekend on a positive note Tuesday as crude oil prices fell and an analyst upgrade of Cisco Systems eased concerns about the tech sector.
The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 61.27 points (0.60 percent) to 10,321.47 while the Nasdaq climbed 14.50 points (0.79 percent) to 1,858.98 at 1530 GMT.
The broad-market Standard and Poor's 500 index added 5.85 points (0.53 percent) to 1,119.48.
In a positive for the market, New York crude oil futures fell 1.01 dollars to 42.98 dollars a barrel as the threat of Hurricane Frances to oil operations in the Gulf of Mexico retreated.
Shares of Cisco Systems were leading the tech sector after CIBC World Markets boosted its rating on the networking giant to "sector outperformer" citing expectations for faster-than-market growth.
The tech sector recovered from a slide last week related to concerns about the outlook for chip giant Intel and the computer industry.
More broadly, Ralph Acampora at Wachovia Securities said the market may be ready to resume its upward trend after a long period of churning.
"We have been in the camp of those calling for this frustrating eight-month trading range to be nothing more than an intermediate term correction in a cyclical bull market," he said.
Others remained cautious, saying September is a traditionally weak month for Wall Street and that many uncertainties lie ahead.
Tobias Levkovich, market strategist at Smith Barney, said that even though many analysts are looking for a fourth-quarter rally, it may not develop as anticipated.
"We remain worried that an equity market rally in October, in anticipation of an even larger market advance after the US presidential elections, may get aborted in November once investors realize that 2005 earnings expectations need to be culled back," he said.
Among active shares, Cisco climbed 65 cents to 19.06 after CIBC World Markets raised its rating, saying "We think (a) breakaway strategy is about to become very real, with six quarters (at least) of strong outperformance likely starting sometime in the next two quarters."
Elsewhere in technology, Intel remained under pressure after steep losses last week, losing five cents to 20.00
ExxonMobil was among the oil stocks impacted by a decline in oil prices, down 23 cents to 46.83.
Financial stocks were leading the upside after Hurricane Frances finally left Florida, doing less damage than feared.
Insurers were higher based on the perception that premiums would be raised and business would pick up after the hurricane.
Allstate, the largest property casualty insurer in Florida, climbed 79 cents to 47.81. Chubb added 95 cents to 69.54, Hartford Financial rose 69 cents to 61.92 and Safeco increased 44 cents to 48.21.
Brokerage stocks were also higher. Merrill Lynch rallied 1.11 to 52.95, Ameritrade rose 25 cents to 11.51 and Morgan Stanley jumped 86 cents to 51.86.
Bonds firmed after last week's declines. The yield on the 10-year Treasury bond dipped to 4.262 percent from 4.293 percent Friday and that on the 30-year bond to 5.032 percent from 5.061 percent. Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions.