Stocks rose on Tuesday after oil prices eased and brokerage upgrades on the semiconductor sector lifted chip makers.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 63.77 points, or 0.6 percent, to 10,830.00. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index rose 6.81 points, or 0.6 percent, to 1,210.41. The Nasdaq Composite Index gained 19.53 points, or 1 percent, to 2,071.25.
Crude oil futures fell slightly, but remained well above $51 a barrel as traders anticipated the U.S. government’s next weekly petroleum supply report. A barrel of light crude was quoted at $51.60, down 15 cents, on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
And technology shares climbed as both J.P. Morgan Securities and Lehman Brothers upgraded the chip sector. Technology shares have lagged as other stocks moved up last month, and investors greeted the news as a sign that the recovery was finally spreading to technology.
Among local companies, shares of Univision Communications Inc. soared 13.7 percent to close at $30 after the L.A.-based Spanish-language media giant reported a quarterly earnings increase and said first quarter revenues would increase. Univision reported fourth-quarter net income of $67.2 million (19 cents per diluted share), compared with $58.9 million (17 cents) for the like period a year earlier. Revenues rose 13 percent to $461.3 million. Univision said it expected diluted earnings per share to increase to between 10 cents and 11 cents in the first quarter, from 9 cents in the year-earlier period.
And Tekelec rose 1.2 percent to $17.18 after the Calabasas-based communications equipment producer’s stock rating was raised to “outperform” from “market perform” by Raymond James.
Shares of Pacific Energy Partners LP dropped 1.6 percent to $31.89 after the Long Beach-based oil transportation company announced that two pipelines shut down last week by heavy rainfall had returned to service. The company said that since both lines have excess pumping capacity, volumes not delivered in February will be delivered in March.
And Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. dipped 0.1 percent to $55.90 after a unit of the Pasadena-based provider of technical, professional and construction services received a bridge reconstruction contract from the Florida Department of Transportation.
