National

Stocks made a modest advance Wednesday as strong earnings from Yahoo Inc. and United Technologies Corp. helped investors briefly set aside worries over inflation and rising oil prices.

According to preliminary calculations, the Dow Jones industrial average gained 10.00, or 0.09 percent, to 11,278.77. The Dow jumped 194.99 points Tuesday, its biggest one-day advance in a year. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index added 2.28, or 0.17 percent, to 1,309.93, and the Nasdaq composite index rose 14.74, or 0.63 percent, to 2,370.88.

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Local


Among top local gainers, On Assignment Inc. jumped 11 percent to $12.55 after being rated “neutral” in new coverage by analyst Josh Vogel at Sidoti & Company LLC. Hi-Sheer Technology Corp. rose 6 percent to $7.56. Diodes Inc. gained 4.9 percent to $42.95 after WR Hambrecht & Co. analyst Michael Bertz said the semiconductor maker was likely to exceed Wall Street estimates for the quarter ended March 31. Cheesecake Factory Inc., which was raised to “buy” from “accumulate” by analyst Nicole Miller at ThinkEquity Partners, rose 4.8 percent to $35.22

Film industry camera maker Panavision Inc. dropped 14 percent to $3, the day after announcing a $345 million loan agreement to provide cash to refinance debt and fund an expansion. Santa Fe Financial Corp. fell 11 percent to $19.50, Artistdirect Inc. lost 9 percent to $3.80 and Adstar Inc. was down 4.7 percent to $2. Amgen Inc, which reported first-quarter earnings after the bell Tuesday, closed down 3.7 percent to $68.30.