NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Stocks posted solid gains Thursday, boosted by a big drop in oil prices and strength in the technology sector.

The Dow Jones industrial average (up 60.30 to 10,546.32, Charts) and the broader Standard & Poor's 500 (up 7.07 to 1,191.14, Charts) index both gained around 0.6 percent, gaining for the fourth consecutive session.

The Nasdaq composite (Research) rose 1 percent, gaining for the third time in four sessions.

Looking out beyond the session, "I think the rise can continue a bit longer," said Paul Mendelsohn, chief investment strategist at money manager Windham Financial Services. "We're going to hit some resistance soon from a technical point of view, but I venture to say that this advance could go on for a few more days."

He pointed out that with no economic news on tap Friday and no earnings of substance due, it was likely that stocks could continue to rise.

The main event for markets Friday will be Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan's speech at a Fed sponsored Community Affairs Research Conference in Washington, DC. The speech, due to start around 12:30 p.m. EST, is expected to concern consumer finance, and may not touch directly on inflation and interest rates, the stock market's favorite topics.

No earnings are due Friday

Stocks rose modestly in the morning, but found new momentum in the afternoon as energy prices sank on the belief that supplies should be enough to meet growing demand. A big drop in natural gas prices -- after a government report of an unexpected inventory buildup -- contributed.

U.S. light crude oil for May delivery sank $1.74 to settle at $54.11 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, a drop of nearly 3 percent. The all-time active contract trading high was $58.28, hit on Monday.

Natural gas and gasoline futures also ended sharply lower.

"The market remains oversold, so we're still bouncing off these support levels that we hit earlier in the week," Mendelsohn added. "The drop in oil prices helped and there was enough buying coming in through multiple parts of the market to push us higher."

Optimism about the first-quarter earnings reporting period -- which unofficially kicked off late Wednesday with Dow component Alcoa -- added to the good sentiment, overshadowing caution from Wal-Mart and a setback for Pfizer regarding its arthritis drug Bextra.

Even a rise in Treasury yields, after trading little changed all morning, failed to spark new inflationary worries and cut into the stock market's gains.

After declining for four weeks on broad oil and inflation worries, certain sectors may be set to rebound, said Michael Carty, principal at New Millennium Advisors.

Because of this, "the market is likely to continue advancing in the short term, supported by what is likely to be a stronger-than-expected earnings period," he added.

Still, concerns about inflation, oil prices and rising interest rates are not going away yet, and are likely to put a limit on any stock rally beyond the short run, the analysts said.

Aluminum producer Alcoa (up $1.49 to $31.47, Research) reported earnings of 40 cents per share, excluding charges, a penny more than expected and up from 37 cents a year earlier. Sales also rose from the prior year, but fell short of expectations. Shares gained 5 percent and gave a boost to the materials sector.

Dell (up $0.35 to $38.50, Research), which met with analysts Thursday, reiterated late Wednesday that it would earn 37 cents per share in its fiscal first quarter on sales of $13.4 billion. The computer maker also said it plans to repurchase $2 billion in stock in the current period, more than doubling its previous pledge.

Advanced Micro Devices (up $0.44 to $16.18, Research) rose 2.8 percent after Dell said that it was open to using computer chips from the semiconductor maker. Currently, AMD rival Intel (up $0.36 to $23.41, Research) is Dell's sole provider.

AMD was one of many in the chip sector rallying, as evidenced by the Philadelphia Semiconductor (up 8.10 to 418.97, Charts) index, or the SOX, which gained 2 percent.

The group also benefited from a bullish industry report.

Research firm Gartner Inc. revised its forecast for global spending on chip gear in 2005, saying it sees a smaller year-over-year decline in sales. Nonetheless, the sector appears sluggish, with sales expected to fall next year as well before recovering in 2007 and 2008, the firm reported.

Bed Bath & Beyond (up $4.06 to $40.80, Research) reported fiscal fourth-quarter earnings late Wednesday of 59 cents per share, four cents more than what analysts were expecting. The home retailer earned 47 cents a year ago. Shares rallied 11 percent.

Other retailers had a more mixed time.

Wal-Mart (down $0.60 to $48.90, Research) said early Thursday that first-quarter earnings will come in at the low end of its previous guidance, which was short of analysts' forecasts. The No. 1 retailer said earnings were hurt by wet and cold March weather, and the likelihood that April sales will be tepid due to the impact of an early Easter.

It also reported March sales at stores open a year or more rose 4.3 percent from a year earlier, just shy of forecasts. The stock fell 1.2 percent.

A slew of other retailers also reported sales Thursday. Target (up $0.77 to $50.74, Research) said March same-store sales rose 8.2 percent, versus expectations for a rise of 7.6 percent. But J.C. Penney (down $0.52 to $49.47, Research) posted March same-store sales of 0.1 percent, versus expectations for a rise of 4 percent.

Dow component Pfizer said it is pulling its arthritis drug Bextra off the shelves after the Food and Drug Administration asked for the recall. Pfizer (up $0.04 to $26.90, Research) shares initially fell more than 2 percent on the news, but ended the session little changed.

Market breadth was positive. On the New York Stock Exchange, winners beat losers five to three on volume of 1.48 billion shares. On the Nasdaq, advancers topped decliners three to two as 1.71 billion shares traded hands.

In other news, the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment fell last week to 334,000 from an upwardly revised 353,000 the previous week. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com thought it would fall to 330,000.

Treasury prices fell, turning around after rising all morning. Traders attributed the turnaround to a mixture of profit taking, and the impact of the falling crude oil prices, which made equities a more attractive investment.

The drop in price raised the yield on the 10-year note to 4.48 percent from 4.42 percent late Wednesday. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions

In currency trading, the dollar gained versus the euro and was little changed versus the yen.

COMEX gold fell 80 cents to settle at $428.40 an ounce.