By Caroline Valetkevitch
NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks inched higher on Thursday as investors bought on early dips, keeping indexes near multi-year highs, even as both inflation and weekly jobless claims rose more than expected.
The technology sector showed strength, with Nvidia Corp
Also helping sentiment, an index of Mid-Atlantic business activity index rose in February to its highest level since January 2004.
In contrast, new U.S. claims for unemployment benefits were up last week, and U.S. core consumer prices advanced at their quickest pace in more than a year in January.
Early session losses turned to gains as investors saw the price weakness as an opportunity to buy into a market that has been rallying since the start of September, underscoring that bullish sentiment remains strong.
"We've run up incredibly over the last six months, and many many onlookers are looking for a pullback, and it just refuses to come," said Andrew Wilkinson, senior market analyst at Interactive Brokers Group in Greenwich, Connecticut.
"In the options market, premiums have declined, an indication ... the threats to a rising market are relatively small at this point."
On Wednesday, the S&P 500 doubled from its bear market low two years ago, boosted by earnings and merger and acquisition announcements. The index has risen more than 27 percent since the end of August.
The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> was up 9.69 points, or 0.08 percent, at 12,297.86. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> put on 1.46 points, or 0.11 percent, at 1,337.78. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> added 4.39 points, or 0.16 percent, at 2,829.95.
The Dow and S&P 500 have been trading near 2-1/2-year highs.
Energy shares were among the top performers, following gains in oil prices. Shares of Chevron Corp
Helping to boost oil prices was a report that two Iranian warships were sailing toward the strategic Suez Canal. The news weighed on stocks earlier, with civil unrest in the Middle East increasing.
Data storage equipment maker NetApp Inc
(Reporting by Caroline Valetkevitch; editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)
