US stocks edge up

Oversold tech shares led Wall Street higher today as investors brushed off high oil prices and brokerage downgrades of General Motors and focused on strong earnings.

Stocks were flat to moderately higher through much of the session, but few analysts believed there was much conviction in the day’s buying.

“We haven’t had much of a follow-through today. I imagine it won’t be long before we retest the lows,” said David Hegarty, head trader at Commerzbank Securities.

The Dow Jones industrial average was up 12.17, or 0.1%, at 10,129.24.

The broader gauges were also higher. The Nasdaq composite index, rebounding from a loss Wednesday and weeks of selling, added 22.80, or 1.2%, to 1,881.06. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index gained 5.01, or 0.5%, to 1,100.43.

In economic news, the US Labour Department reported a moderate 0.9% rise in wages and benefits for US workers in the April-June quarter, down slightly from the previous quarter’s increase.

In a second report, the department said new claims for unemployment benefits edged up last week, though they remain at a level that suggests continued labour market improvement.

Rising crude prices added to the market’s uneasiness. Down substantially earlier in the session, September crude futures settled only 15 cents lower at 42.75 on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

A dispute between Russian oil giant Yukos and Moscow briefly pushed oil prices past 43 a barrel on Wednesday, a 21-year high.

Trading was light today, which analysts attributed in part to anticipation of the US government’s gross domestic product report, due tomorrow.

“I think tomorrow is a big day … nobody wants to be out in front of that,” said Michael Murphy, head trader at Wachovia Securities in Baltimore. “The economy is very much on investors’ minds. It’s a trigger point. If it’s a bad number, I think we’ll see a sell-off, but if it’s a good number we’ll probably celebrate.”

General Motors was down 3.1%, or 1.37, at 42.75, after analysts with Goldman Sachs and Lehman Brothers downgraded their ratings of the stock, amid worries about inventory buildup and a pending accounting rule change that could dent earnings.

MetLife rose 1.23 to 35.53 after reporting a 45% gain in second quarter profits, soaring past Wall Street forecasts, as higher premiums and profitable investments helped boost revenues across all business segments. The company also disclosed that the Internal Revenue Service is auditing its returns for the years 1997-99.

Exxon Mobil was up 22 cents at 46.03, after matching Wall Street’s earnings estimates, reporting a 39% jump in profits on higher prices for oil and natural gas.

Advancers outnumbered declining issues by more than 2 to 1 on the New York Stock Exchange. Volume was moderate.

The Russell 2000 index, which tracks smaller company stocks, was up 8.63, or 1.6%, at 549.83.