US stocks advanced on Thursday, helped by optimism about earnings and investors buying the quarter's high performers, while the S&P 500's push above a key level could signal further gains. The S&P 500 broke above its 50-day moving average at 1,305, and analysts said the market may have gotten past the worst of its recent pullback.
"What I saw yesterday and today is a stabilisation of the market," said Bruce Zaro, chief technical strategist at Delta Global Asset Management in Boston. The Dow has a good chance of making a new 12-month high in the next six weeks, Zaro said. The current high is 12,391. The S&P 500 is up 24 percent since the start of September but briefly dipped into negative territory for the year recently amid worries about high oil prices and the disaster in Japan.
The S&P 500 consumer discretionary index was up 1.3 percent after electronics retailer Best Buy reported better-than-expected earnings on strong smartphone sales. Best Buy's stock, however, was down 4 percent at $30.58, reversing earlier gains that took it as high as $32.98. The stock also touched a fresh 52-week low at $30.24.
Oracle, due to report after the close, gained 1.4 percent to $31.83 and helped lift the Nasdaq, which was up more than 1 percent. The Dow Jones industrial average was up 74.47 points, or 0.62 percent, at 12,160.49. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was up 9.10 points, or 0.70 percent, at 1,306.64. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 29.86 points, or 1.11 percent, at 2,728.16. It was a second day of gains for the market, with the S&P 500 up 1.9 percent so far for the week.
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