Earnings lift Wall St. for fifth straight day

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks edged higher on Wednesday, with the S&P 500 up for a fifth straight day as technology companies rallied on strong results, though weakness in Boeing weighed on the Dow.

With the session's advance, which builds on a jump of about 2 percent on Tuesday, the S&P 500 is up 4.5 percent over the past five sessions, putting it on track for the biggest five-day rally since December 2011.

Tech names were among the market's biggest advancers a day after both Yahoo Inc and Broadcom beat revenue expectations. Broadcom shares climbed 7.2 percent to $40.01 while Yahoo was up 5.7 percent at $42.47; the two made up the S&P 500's top percentage gainers.

Material stocks <.SPLRCM> also outperformed on the day, up 0.6 percent, after Dow Chemical posted better-than-expected earnings. The stock rose 1.2 percent to $48.78.

Limiting the market's advance was Boeing Co , which dipped 1 percent to $125.77 despite reporting higher-than-expected earnings and raising its outlook, as analysts raised concern about the costs of the 787 Dreamliner. Its decline comes after a rise of 5.8 percent over the four previous sessions.

"The season has been mixed, and the global economy is a concern for big multinational companies, but the fact that the market can shake off some bad reports is indicative of what good footing it is on right now," said Bruce Bittles, chief investment strategist at Robert W. Baird & Co in Nashville.

At current levels, the S&P is 3.4 percent from its closing record, and up 6.7 percent from its session low last Wednesday, when the benchmark neared correction territory.

In the latest economic data, consumer prices rose 0.1 percent in September as energy costs fell broadly, painting a weak inflation picture that should give the Federal Reserve ample room to keep interest rates low for a while.

At 11:06 a.m. the Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> rose 9.34 points, or 0.06 percent, to 16,624.15, the S&P 500 <.SPX> gained 3.9 points, or 0.2 percent, to 1,945.18 and the Nasdaq Composite <.IXIC> added 7.47 points, or 0.17 percent, to 4,426.95.

Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by 1,796 to 1,118, for a 1.61-to-1 ratio on the upside; on the Nasdaq, 1,336 issues rose and 1,119 fell for a 1.19-to-1 ratio favoring advancers.

The benchmark S&P 500 index was posting 39 new 52-week highs and no new lows; the Nasdaq Composite was recording 39 new highs and 14 new lows.

(Editing by Nick Zieminski)

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