U.S. stocks rebounded on Tuesday from a sell-off the previous day, after economic news eased some inflationary concerns, while the dollar and bonds strengthened.
In New York, oil fell to $51.68 a barrel and gold dropped to $433.90 an ounce.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 63.77 points, or 0.59 percent, to close at 10,830.00. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index gained 6.81 points, or 0.57 percent, to finish at 1,210.41. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 19.53 points, or 0.95 percent, to close at 2,071.25.
Intel Corp. (INTC.O: Quote, Profile, Research) climbed 2.6 percent, lending support to the blue-chip Dow and the Nasdaq, after investment bank JPMorgan upgraded its rating on the U.S. semiconductor sector and raised its recommendation on Intel to "overweight."
Intel gained 63 cents to $24.62. And the Philadelphia Stock Exchange semiconductor index climbed 2.3 percent.
Meanwhile, Johnson & Johnson climbed 1.6 percent, or $1.05, to $66.65 after Merrill Lynch upgraded its rating on the shares to "buy" from "neutral."
"Nasdaq got its strength through the semiconductors, while the Dow and the S&P got a lot of strength through the prices-paid component of the ISM, which tempered a lot of the inflationary concerns that investors may have had," said Larry Peruzzi, equity trader at The Boston Co. Asset Management, a Mellon subsidiary.
Figures from the ISM, the Institute for Supply Management, showed that while U.S. factory output grew more slowly in February, the manufacturing index's prices-paid component fell.
The Institute for Supply Management said on Tuesday that its index of national manufacturing slipped to 55.3 in February from 56.4 in January, weaker than the forecast rise to 57.0. The prices paid index fell to 65.5 from 69.0. (Reuters)