New York — Buyers returned to Wall Street for a second straight day Tuesday, bidding stocks higher on hopes the market has bottomed and the economy is turning around.
Investors' optimism allowed them to focus most of their buying on riskier tech stocks and the more economically sensitive blue chips such as consumer cyclicals.
The Dow Jones industrial average gained 28.92 to close at 10,591.22.
Broader market indicators also were higher. The Nasdaq composite index advanced 61.51 to 2,204.43, and the Standard & Poor's 500 index moved up 12.39 to 1,253.80.
Stocks continued to rise despite bleak earnings outlooks, which some analysts say is a sign the market is ready for a longer-term rally.
Conservative analysts, however, say the spree is temporary, a so-called bear market rally.
The outlooks helped boost retailing shares, including Wal-Mart, up $1.18 at $49.55.
The riskier technology sector, where earnings have suffered the most as the economy slumped, rallied Tuesday. However, "the tech rally is a bit more suspicious," said James Meyer, director of research at Janney Montgomery Scott, adding that it would take awhile for markers of computers and chips to work off excess inventories before their sales pick up.
For now, Meyer said, techs such as Intel are trading higher largely because stock prices seem cheap to investors. Share of Intel, a Dow component, rose $1.13 to $31.50 even though the chipmaker slashed prices on its processors by as much as 19 percent earlier in the week.
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