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Stocks End A Bit Higher As Nasdaq Sees 2 Encouraging Signs

The stock market closed with narrow gains Thursday in a session that kept the main indexes in a small price band.

X The Nasdaq composite was flat despite a boost from two of its leading industry groups: biotechs and chip equipment makers. Those groups climbed about 1% in today's trading.

The S&P 500 and Dow Jones industrial average rose 0.1% as indexes eliminated minor early losses. Among Dow components, Visa (V) rose less than 1% as it finds support at the 50-day moving average. The small-cap Russell 2000 made another new high, inching up 0.1%.

Small as the day's price range was, it was somewhat encouraging to see the market hold or even add to Wednesday's sharp advance. The Nasdaq has bounced off a pullback to its 50-day moving average and its advance-decline line has been rising at a faster pace than the index itself since both made lows in mid-August.

Volume fell from Wednesday's levels, the early figures showed. Breadth was better than the indexes and volume suggested. Winners topped losers by 7-to-5 on the Nasdaq and by 9-to-7 on the NYSE.

A mix of consumer and cyclical stocks led the market. Metal distributors, electronics stores, managed health care providers, airfreight companies, and food and beverage groups were in the top 10 Thursday.

Energy, insurance and some medical industry groups lagged.

BlackRock (BLK) cleared the 442.93 buy point of a flat base, but volume was below average. The giant investment management firm rallied after Goldman Sachs upgraded the stock to conviction buy from buy. BlackRock, whose products include the iShares family of ETFs, climbed to an all-time high.

AMN Healthcare Services (AMN) broke out of a cup-without-handle base, surging past a 43.95 buy point in active trading. Gray Television (GTN) rose above the 15.32 entry of a flat base in volume 25% more than average.

Ormat Technologies (ORA) surged past the 61.59 buy point of a flat base. Volume was heavy. The geothermal-energy company has been rising since its investor day on Tuesday, but Thursday's rally was by far the strongest since March.

New-issue Veritone (VERI) continued to plunge, losing about 20% in huge volume. On Wednesday, the artificial-intelligence company plummeted 30% after short-seller Citron Research made bearish comments on Veritone, reports said. Veritone had quintupled from its IPO price of 15 a share on May 12 until its sell-off began Wednesday.

Roku (ROKU) soared 9.50 to 23.50 after it went public with an initial public offering at 14 a share that raised $220 million. Roku sells set-top boxes that enable its streaming TV services.

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