US stocks close higher

Wall Street rebounded from an early loss to send the Dow Jones industrials to their second straight record close as investors embraced robust economic data and shrugged off several profit warnings. Bond prices fell on concerns about interest rates.

Stocks held on to their gains despite a profit warning from chip maker Advanced Micro Devices. The market also got a boost from lower oil prices and a migration into technology stocks.

Another catalyst was a Commerce Department report that retail sales rose in December at their strongest pace in five months - an indication that holiday sales might have turned out better than expected. The Labour Department said December import prices climbed 1.1% in its largest increase since May.

The reports were another signal that the economy remains healthy, and could persuade central bankers to keep interest rates where they are. Stock and bond investors have been hoping the Fed might lower rates in the near future.

Some of Friday's fluctuations were likely due to investors adjusting their positions ahead of a three-day weekend, with the markets closed on Monday for Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

"You've had a pretty good week, and people always tend to even up positions on a Friday - especially before a holiday," said Alexander Paris, an economist and market analyst for Chicago-based Barrington Research.

The Dow rose 41.10, or 0.33%, to 12,556.08. Friday marks the index's 24th record close since the start of October. Despite the gains, the Dow did not surpass its trading high of 12,580.35 set on January 3.

Broader stock indicators advanced. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 6.91, or 0.49%, to 1,430.73, and the Nasdaq composite rose 17.97, or 0.72%, to 2,502.82. For the week, stocks advanced modestly and, as a result, managed to push the indexes into positive territory for the new year.

The bond market, which has been pricing in the potential of a rate cut sometime with the first half of the year, was rattled by the economic reports Friday. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note rose to 4.78% - the highest it has been since October - from 4.74% late Thursday. The dollar was mixed against other major currencies, while gold prices rose.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by about 2 to 1 on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to 1.53 billion shares compared with 1.67 billion traded Thursday. The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 5.81, or 0.74%, to 794.26.