NEW YORK, Dec 21 (AFP) - Wall Street shares swung higher Tuesday as investors shuffled portfolios in advance of the end of the year, encouraged by a broker upgrade of Intel that buoyed the tech sector.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 58.82 points (0.55 percent) to 10,720.42 and the Nasdaq advanced 11.94 points (0.56 percent) to 2,139.79 at 1655 GMT.
The Standard and Poor's 500 broad-market index rose 5.40 points (0.45 percent) to 1,200.05.
In the absence of major economic news, the highlight was a couple of bullish earnings reports from Morgan Stanley and Bear Stearns, better than expected.
Intel was in focus after Lehman Brothers boosted its recommendation on the shares to "overweight" from "equal-weight" on the belief the chip giant's business is tracking favorably in the near term.
Strategists say stocks seem poised to trend higher heading into year-end unless negative news surfaces.
"We're probably headed for a mixed to higher session as we await the economic news tomorrow and next week's window dressing," said Peter Cardillo, chief market analyst and strategist at SW Bach.
Markets will get final numbers on third-quarter gross domestic product on Wednesday followed by data on durable goods, personal income, consumer sentiment, new home sales and jobless claims on Thursday.
"Have we seen the year end rally? Well, that's always possible -- but looking at the momentum I see in the market place, I would say to bet against it is a mistake," said Al Goldman, chief market strategist at AG Edwards.
Goldman said he does not expect stocks to go "up, up and away," but does believe a moderate advance is in the cards.
"I don't think we're going to get up and rock and roll because we have come a long way since the election," Goldman said.
Among active shares, Intel rose 48 cents to 23.18 after Lehman Brothers projected results for the chip sector leader would be at the high end of forecasts.
InteractiveCorp spiked 2.02 or seven percent to 27.90 after the e-commerce group headed by Barry Diller announced plans to split off the group's Expedia Internet travel-related holdings to shareholders.
McDonalds climbed five cents to 32.44 after Bank of America upgraded the fast-food leader's price target, saying US and European sales were trending higher.
Pharmaceuticals remained in focus amid concerns about risks posed by some pain medications.
Merck, which has been in a tailspin since withdrawing its drug Vioxx, rebounded 22 cents to 31.73. Pfizer, battered by concerns about Celebrex, gained 80 cents to 25.09.
Pfizer has maintained its view that Celebrex is safe and a warning from the National Institutes of Health on a separate painkiller, Naproxen, was seen by some as good news for Celebrex.
In the brokerage space, Morgan Stanley dipped 20 cents to 53.45 and Bear Stearns fell 1.86 to 102.64 even after the two firms beat forecasts for quarterly earnings.
Bonds held firm. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury bond dipped to 4.183 percent from 4.199 percent Monday and that on the 30-year bond to 4.812 percent against 4.824 percent. Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions.
12/21/2004 17:24 GMT - AFP