Thursday's early afternoon trade: Wal-Mart, tech stocks lead Wall Street gains

Wall Street's main indexes marched higher on Thursday, driven by gains in Wal-Mart and technology shares, while investors awaited a vote on the Republican tax bill. Wal-Mart surged as much as 9.10 percent to hit a record high of $98.01 after reporting US same-store sales that beat expectations on hurricane-related purchases and soaring online sales.
Cisco soared 6.3 percent after the company's profit forecast came in above estimates, boosting the S&P technology index. Gains in the session put the S&P and the Dow on course for their biggest percentage rise in more than two months. "The bull market is still intact. Good earnings and strong economic data are what stocks care about," said Michael Antonelli, managing director, institutional sales trading at Robert W. Baird in Milwaukee.
The Republican-controlled US Congress is approaching a major test of its ability to overhaul tax code, as lawmakers prepare for their first full-scale vote on sweeping tax legislation. US House Speaker Paul Ryan told Fox News he was confident his chamber had the votes to pass its version of the plan. A vote was expected early on Thursday afternoon.
The CBOE Volatility index, Wall Street's fear gauge, posted its first decline in six days. At 12:30 pm ET (1630 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 200.67 points, or 0.86 percent, at 23,471.95, the S&P 500 was up 22.97 points, or 0.90 percent, at 2,587.59 and the Nasdaq Composite was up 92.31 points, or 1.38 percent, at 6,798.52.