US stocks rose Monday as oil prices eased a little and Friday's start-of-quarter buying spree continued into the new week.
Improved investor sentiment about the economy also helped markets. New orders at US factories fell unexpectedly in August as demand for civilian aircraft weakened, but excluding transportation equipment, the data showed some strength.
Siebel Systems Inc. rose more than 16 percent after the business software company said it sees third-quarter revenue above Wall Street expectations.
American Express Co. rose 1.6 percent after The Supreme Court let stand a ruling that the Visa and MasterCard credit card associations violated US antitrust law by barring member banks from issuing credit and charge cards on rival networks owned by American Express Co. and Morgan Stanley.
American Express rose 83 cents to $52.48. Siebel shares were up $1.33 at $9.52.
The Dow Jones industrial average was up 49.99 points, or 0.49 percent, at 10,242.64. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was up 6.97 points, or 0.62 percent, at 1,138.47. The technology-laced Nasdaq Composite Index was up 19.27 points, or 0.99 percent, at 1,961.47.
"Today we are seeing follow-through from Friday's lift and the news from Siebel has helped to continue buying interest in technology stocks," said Paul Cherney, chief market analyst at Standard & Poor's. "Also, the price of crude has been weaker."
Semiconductor stocks also drove the market higher. National Semiconductor Corp., a maker of chips that manage power consumption in electronics, gained 4.2 percent to $17 after it said on Friday it would begin paying a quarterly dividend.
Intel Corp., the world's dominant chip maker, rose 2 percent to $21.27, helping to lift the Dow and the Nasdaq. Retail stocks climbed after reports that they will exceed analysts' estimates for the third quarter. Target Corp. was up 3.2 percent at $46.92 on the New York Stock Exchange.
A Merrill Lynch report said retailers' shares are likely to rally in October and November and their third-quarter earnings will be better than expected because of their healthy inventory levels and Wall Street's lowered expectations.
Both the Dow and the Standard & Poor's 500 index got a boost from Wal-Mart Stores Inc., which rose 1 percent to $53.65, after the world's largest retailer said sales at stores open at least a year rose 2.3 percent for September, according to its preliminary tally.
Shares of software maker PeopleSoft Inc. fell 2.2 percent to $22.31. The company said third-quarter revenue would exceed Wall Street expectations, but the news could be used by PeopleSoft's management to fight a hostile take-over bid by Oracle Corp., an analyst said.
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