Commodity stocks climb

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are ending a quiet day mixed, with commodity and technology stocks showing the biggest gains.

Investors have shrugged off news Tuesday that 10 of the nation's largest banks can repay $68 billion in bailout money.

Texas Instruments Inc. boosted tech stocks after raising its profit forecast. And a falling dollar pushed the price of oil to its first finish over $70 a barrel since November and drove prices of metals like copper and aluminum higher.

According to preliminary calculations, the Dow is down 1 at 8,763. The Standard & Poor's 500 index is up 3 at 942. The Nasdaq is up 17 at 1,860.

Three stocks rose for every two that fell on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to a relatively low 1.1 billion shares.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

NEW YORK (AP) — Investors reacted coolly to word that 10 of the nation's largest banks can repay $68 billion in bailout money.

Stocks mostly rose in quiet trading Tuesday after the Treasury Department's widely expected announcement that some of the 19 banks would be allowed to give back the money they received from the $700 billion rescue fund created by Congress last October at the height of the financial crisis.

"It's part of the healing process for the banking industry," said Rob Lutts, chief investment officer at Cabot Money Management in Salem, Mass.

Traders had already sized up those banks that they deemed in good enough shape to return the money so they turned their focus to technology and commodity stocks.

The Nasdaq composite index lead the three major stock indicators with a gain of about 1 percent after Texas Instruments Inc. raised its profit forecast for the quarter. That stirred hopes that the semiconductor industry could see a rebound in demand.

A falling dollar pushed the price of oil to its first finish over $70 a barrel since November and drove prices of metals like copper and aluminum higher. The rising prices lifted stocks of energy and materials producers.

A successful government auction of three-year notes that pushed interest rates lower. The good auction results reassured investors, who have worried in recent weeks that rising interest rates would choke off a recovery by making it more expensive to get a mortgage or other loan.

Analysts said the market's third straight day of modest moves wasn't surprising after the 38.8 percent surge in the Standard & Poor's 500 index since it hit a 12-year low exactly three months ago.

"The next three months are just going to be a long, hot flat summer. I don't see a catalyst," said Scott Armiger, portfolio manager at Christiana Bank & Trust in Greenville, Del.

In late afternoon trading, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 7.79, or 0.1 percent, to 8,772.28. The broader S&P 500 index rose 4.03, or 0.4 percent, to 943.17, and the Nasdaq rose 19.95, or 1.1 percent, to 1,862.35.

The banks have been eager to get out of the program to escape government restrictions such as caps on executive compensation. Among the banks that confirmed that they received permission to repay the bailout funds were: American Express Co. rose $1.18, or 4.6 percent, to $26.83, while JPMorgan Chase & Co. slipped 7 cents to $35.32.

Texas Instruments rose $1.27, or 6.4 percent, to $21.04.

Aluminum producer Alcoa Inc. rose 35 cents, or 3.3 percent, to $11.12 and U.S. Steel Corp. rose $2.61, or 7.4 percent, to $37.67. In energy, Occidental Petroleum rose 99 cents to $69.32.

Bond prices were mixed. The benchmark 10-year Treasury note rose, pushing its yield down to 3.86 percent from 3.89 percent late Monday.

In other trading, the Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 4.84, or 0.9 percent, to 529.63.

About three stocks rose for every two that fell on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to 746.8 million shares compared with 773.7 million shares traded at the same time Monday.

Overseas, Britain's FTSE 100 slipped less than 0.1 percent, Germany's DAX index fell 0.1 percent, and France's CAC-40 rose 0.2 percent. Japan's Nikkei stock average fell 0.8 percent



by the associated press