NEW YORK - Wall Street shrugged off a weak start and pushed higher Wednesday, as Federal Reserve chief Alan Greenspan's congressional testimony reassured investors about the US economic outlook.
After a lower opening for the main indexes, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 31.41 points (0.29 percent) to 10,861.41, and the Nasdaq dropped 11.24 points (0.54 percent) to 2,082.49 at 1650 GMT.
The Standard and Poor's 500 broad-market index added 4.83 points (0.40 percent) to 1,215.24.
Appearing in the House of Representatives Budget Committee, Greenspan said the US economy is coming off "a solid performance in 2004," and is "expanding at a reasonably good pace," though he warned about the long-term implications of the massive budget deficit.
"The stock market has rallied following Greenspan's comments because Alan Greenspan specifically did not mention anything about interest rates or the prospect of rising inflation," said Michael Sheldon, chief market strategist at Spencer Clarke LLC.
Bob Dickey at RBC Dain Rauscher said the stock market is nearing a key resistance level of 10,900 for the Dow, which could spark a further rally if broken.
"We believe the market indicators favor a breakout to the upside," he said.
Among active shares, Exxon Mobil rose 30 cents to 62.40 as the oil giant's shares rebounded on higher crude prices. Rival ChevronTexaco added 37 cents to 61.31.
In telecom, MCI rallied 21 cents to 23.57 after announcing it would hold talks on a takeover offer from Qwest, which fell two cents to 4.03. MCI said it had permission for the talks from Verizon, which struck a deal last month to buy MCI. Verizon shares added 27 cents to 36.52.
Motorola shares fell 13 cents to 15.50, despite a research report showing a 24 percent rise in mobile handset sales in fourth quarter.
Fairchild Semiconductor dipped 13 cents to 17.04 after it reiterated its first-quarter sales outlook, with revenue down two to six percent from the sequential fourth quarter. The chip maker said price pressures on new orders for standard products and low power switches have moderated.
Federated Department Stores climbed 1.10 to 62.08 after an upgrade from Deutsche Bank to "buy" from "hold," citing potential from the acquisition of the May Department Stores, up 28 cents at 36.43.
Bonds remained in a funk. The yield on the 10-year Treasury bond rose to 4.385 percent from 4.372 percent Tuesday and that on the 30-year bond to 4.736 percent from 4.721 percent. Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions.
03/02/2005 17:20 GMT