Stocks fight to stay ahead

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Stocks rose Wednesday afternoon, but gave back bigger morning gains, as investors welcomed mostly upbeat reads on the economy and kept an eye on higher oil prices and rising bond yields.

The Dow Jones industrial average (up 54.87 to 12,191.32, Charts) jumped about 0.3 percent, with roughly 90 minutes left in the session.

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The broader S&P 500 (up 7.72 to 1,394.44, Charts) index climbed 0.5 percent. The Nasdaq composite (up 8.49 to 2,421.10, Charts) added 0.3 percent.

All three major gauges had risen more in the morning following the release of a stronger-than-expected gross domestic product growth report.

The afternoon brought the release of the Federal Reserve's "beige book" survey of its 12 districts, which showed continued moderate growth in most parts of the country and a pickup in consumer spending outside the housing and auto sectors.

Although stocks lost a little steam in the afternoon, the session's gains overall were positive, with investors building on a late-Tuesday turnaround following Monday's big selloff.

"You're seeing the market building on yesterday's surprisingly strong move," said Ken Tower, chief market strategist at CyberTrader.

Tower said that following Monday's big decline - Wall Street's worst day in four months - stocks could have been vulnerable to a lot more selling. "I thought the bears might have been able to string at least two days together, after essentially disappearing for four months."

But that proved not to be the case as the tone turned positive again late Tuesday - and looks like it should be able to remain so for the time being.

GDP grew at a faster-than-expected 2.2 percent annual rate in the third quarter, the government said Wednesday morning, versus an initial read of 1.6 percent. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com thought GDP growth would be revised up to a 1.8 percent rate.

The report helped quell some recent concerns about how much the economy would slow, particularly amid the slump in the housing sector.

A separate report showed that the pace of new home sales slowed at a faster-than-expected rate in October. But the median price of a new home in the period jumped. (Full story).

In a busy day for economic news, the afternoon brings the release of the Fed's "beige book" survey of economic activity.

In corporate news, Ford Motor said that more than half of the automaker's U.S. factory work force have accepted offers to retire or resign, beating company targets. The greater-than-expected response to the buyout offer is seen as allowing the company to speed up its plant-closings and other cost-cutting efforts.

After rising in the morning, Ford (down $0.01 to $8.14, Charts) shares flattened out in the afternoon.

Pfizer (up $0.03 to $27.08, Charts), a Dow component, said late Tuesday that it was cutting its U.S. sales force by 20 percent as a means of reducing costs. Shares were little changed Wednesday afternoon, giving back earlier gains.

Fellow Dow stock Verizon Communications (up $0.64 to $35.04, Charts) gained on an A.G. Edwards upgrade, Briefing.com reported.

Other Dow gainers included Intel (up $0.19 to $21.17, Charts), Merck (up $0.78 to $44.45, Charts), AT&T (up $1.01 to $33.83, Charts) and Alcoa (up $0.54 to $30.74, Charts).

A run up in oil prices gave a lift to oil stocks such as Exxon Mobil (up $1.42 to $75.58, Charts) and Valero Energy (up $1.47 to $54.58, Charts).

The Amex Oil (up 21.50 to 1,200.29, Charts) index gained 1.6 percent.

Gold and silver stocks slipped, along with the price of the raw commodities. The Amex Gold Bugs (down $2.38 to $341.50, Charts) index fell 0.8 percent.

Among other movers, shares of Dynavax Technologies (up $2.56 to $9.96, Charts) rallied 20 percent after the biotech reported positive results in a late-stage trial of its treatment for Hepatitis B.

Market breadth was positive. On the New York Stock Exchange, winners beat losers by more than two to one on volume of almost 1 billion shares. On the Nasdaq, advancers topped decliners four to three on volume of 1.29 billion shares.

U.S. light crude oil for January delivery jumped $1.46 to $62.45 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange after the weekly oil inventories report showed a surprise dip in crude, gas and distillate supplies.

Treasury bond prices rose, lowering the yield on the 10-year note to 4.49 percent from 4.50 percent late Tuesday. Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions.

In currency trading, the dollar bounced back versus the euro and the yen after the GDP report.

COMEX gold fell $1.40 to $642.30 an ounce.

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