US stocks rose, paring losses for the month, as Walt Disney Co's profit topped forecasts, Boeing Co won a US$6 billion aircraft order and Midwest manufacturing expanded more than expected.
"In terms of underlying developments on the economy, in terms of corporate profits, we are going the right way," Kevin Bannon, chief investment officer at Bank of New York Co, told Bloomberg Television. The bank oversees US$70 billion.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 108.68, or 1.4 percent, to 8,053.81. Disney and Boeing contributed more than one-tenth of the gain. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index advanced 11.09, or 1.3 percent, to 855.70. Both benchmarks climbed for a third day in four.
Applied Materials Inc tumbled, sending the NASDAQ Composite Index lower, after the company said orders for its semiconductor-making equipment fell more than forecast last quarter.
The NASDAQ lost 1.44, or 0.1 percent, to 1,320.91.
The S&P 500 slipped 2.7 percent this month, its worst January performance since 2000, partly because of concern a war with Iraq would push up energy prices and slow economic growth. The Dow fell 3.5 percent and the NASDAQ 1.1 percent.
Stocks' January declines may foretell a drop for the year.
Since 1950, the direction of the market in January predicted the annual course of the stock market in all but 10 years. In the Stock Trader's Almanac, Yale Hirsch says there were only four "major" errors, when the direction of stocks in January was dramatically different from the rest of the year.
Shares were helped after the National Association of Purchasing Management-Chicago's factory index rose to its highest since May, suggesting a recovery among Midwest factories gained strength in January.
"This is a good first number showing growth," said Philip Orlando, chief investment officer at Value Line Asset Management, which oversees about US$5 billion.
Among the S&P 500 companies that have posted fourth-quarter results, profits have risen 11.6 percent, according to Thomson First Call. Analysts expect earnings growth of 12.5 percent once all the index's members have reported.
Disney share rose US$1.15 to US$17.50 after the second-largest US media company said fiscal first-quarter profit beat the average analyst forecast. Disney earned US$0.17 a share, excluding aircraft-lease writedowns, as revenue rose to a record on higher theme-park attendance and television ad sales. Analysts expected US$0.15.
Boeing added US$0.93 to US$31.59. The world's largest planemaker received an order from Ryanair Holdings Plc, Europe' second-largest low-cost airline, for as many as 100 jetliners.
More than two stocks rose for every one that fell on the New York Stock Exchange while four advanced for every three that declined on the Nasdaq Stock Market. Some 1.51 billion shares traded on the Big Board, 11 percent above the three-month daily average.
Benchmark indexes slumped for a third consecutive week. The S&P 500 lost 0.7 percent, the Dow 1 percent and the NASDAQ 1.6 percent.
Applied Materials, the biggest maker of equipment to produce semiconductors, slipped US$0.98, or 7.6 percent, to US$11.97. The company said orders fell 35 percent in the fiscal first quarter from the fourth period, more than its previous estimate of a 20 percent drop.
Hewlett-Packard Co declined US$0.79 to US$17.41, while Dell Computer Corp slipped US$0.32 to US$23.86. Lehman Brothers Inc's Daniel Niles, one of Institutional Investor magazine's top-rated analysts, said US demand for the companies' computers was weak this month.
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