NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - Stocks ended their two-day losing streak Thursday after an upbeat outlook from Advanced Micro Devices and better-than-expected results from eBay helped the market shrug off rising oil prices.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite (up 22.17 to 2,301.81, Charts) jumped 1 percent.

The Dow Jones industrial average (up 25.85 to 10,880.71, Charts) climbed 0.2 percent while the broader S&P 500 index (up 7.11 to 1,285.04, Charts) added about 0.5 percent.

"The focus is clearly on earnings, that's what it's really all about," said Hugh Johnson, chairman of asset management company Johnson Illington Advisors.

Blue-chip stocks lost some ground early in the session following a report from Al Jazeera TV of an audiotape message from Osama bin Laden that threatened new attacks inside the U.S.

A late rise in oil prices also took some steam out of the session's gains. Light, sweet crude jumped over $1 to near $67 a barrel after the warning of new al Qaeda attacks coupled with tensions in Iran and Nigeria overshadowed the EIA's inventory report of a jump in crude and gasoline reserves.

After the closing bell, Motorola (up $1.01 to $24.35, Research) said fourth-quarter earnings rose but the cell phone maker issued disappointing first-quarter guidance and shares tumbled 7 percent in extended trade on Inet electronic brokerage.

Semiconductor maker Xilinx (up $0.99 to $29.79, Research) posted a 26 percent rise in third-quarter profit but missed estimates and shares sunk 6 percent in after-hours trade.

Shares of Cree (up $1.24 to $28.63, Research) were also 6 percent lower after hours, after the semiconductor maker said second-quarter profit fell as expenses rose.

But Rambus (down $0.16 to $33.92, Research) shares rose 2 percent in extended trade after the maker of chip technology posted higher fourth-quarter profit.

Advanced Micro Devices (up $3.76 to $37.13, Research) soared 11 percent during the regular session after the chipmaker said it reversed a year-earlier loss and issued a bullish forecasts for the first quarter. The forecast helped cheer tech investors who were spooked Wednesday by disappointing earnings forecasts from Intel (down $0.20 to $22.40, Research) and Yahoo! (down $0.85 to $34.33, Research)

A variety of other chip stocks also rose during the day, sending the Philadelphia Semiconductor index (up $15.85 to $534.74, Research), or the SOX, up 3 percent.

eBay (up $2.33 to $46.77, Research) gave the tech sector a boost after the online auctioneer beat analysts' forecasts, although the outlook for 2006 remained below the average Wall Street estimates. Shares jumped 5.5 percent.

Dow component Pfizer (up $0.88 to $24.97, Research) rose nearly 4 percent and was the Dow's biggest gainer after the drugmaker said fourth-quarter profit fell, hurt by generic competition, but cost cuts helped it beat Wall Street's expectations.

Shares of Merrill Lynch (up $2.20 to $72.05, Research) rose 3 percent after the brokerage said fourth-quarter earnings rose 25 percent as surging revenue from retail customers and the firm's own investments helped it beat analysts' expectations.

Other financial stocks took a hit after Wachovia (down $0.82 to $52.81, Research) posted an operating profit that only matched Wall Street expectations, sending shares down 1.5 percent, and shares of North Fork Bancorp (down $0.48 to $25.97, Research) sunk nearly 2 percent after the bank said profit fell 5 percent.

Apple (down $3.46 to $79.04, Research) reported a solid quarter after the bell Wednesday, beating Wall Street's earnings forecasts, but shares fell 4 percent on the computer company's lukewarm guidance.

In other news, Walt Disney (up $1.02 to $26.24, Research) may be looking to acquire Pixar (up $1.61 to $58.87, Research) at a small premium to the company's current stock market value of $6.7 billion, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.

Shares of Pixar and Disney both gained around 3 percent. (Full story.)

Market breadth was positive. On the New York Stock Exchange, winners beat losers more than two to one on volume of 1.8 billion shares. On the Nasdaq, advancers topped decliners by two to one on volume of 2.4 billion shares.

In economic news, new home construction tumbled and jobless claims fell to a six-year low.

Initial claims for state jobless aid fell 36,000 in the week ended Jan. 14 to 271,000, their lowest level in nearly six years, the Labor Department said in a report suggesting a robust labor market.

Housing starts fell 8.9 percent in December as single-family house construction tumbled, pointing to further cooling after a five-year boom, the Commerce Department said.

The Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank said its business activity index showed gains in new orders, a gauge of future growth, and an increase in the jobs component.

Treasury prices fell, lifting the yield on the 10-year note to 4.37 percent from 4.33 percent late Thursday. The dollar rose against the euro and the yen.

COMEX gold for February delivery jumped $14.50, or 2.7 percent, to $559 an ounce.

In global trade, European shares ended higher following a rebound in Asia, with Tokyo's Nikkei bouncing back from Wednesday's sharp selloff that forced the market to close early.