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US stocks rise but Syria still a concern

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US stocks have kicked off a holiday-shortened week higher, but concerns about a possible US military strike on Syria cut into early gains.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 23.65 (0.16 per cent) at 14,833.96.

The broad-based S&P 500 rose 6.80 (0.42 per cent) to 1,639.77, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 22.74 (0.63 per cent) to 3,612.61.

US stocks had opened solidly higher after markets were closed on Monday for a holiday, but stocks cooled considerably after Republican House Speaker John Boehner at mid-session backed President Barack Obama’s call for military action against Syria.

“The market fears that (a Syria military strike) will take the focus off what needs to happen here domestically,” such as the debate on tapering the Federal Reserve’s bond-buying program and picking a new Fed chairman, said Michael James, managing director of equity trading at Wedbush Securities.

The moderate gains came amid some solid economic data from Europe, China and the US. Fresh data Tuesday showed an unexpected jump in US manufacturing activity in August.

Tech giant Apple rose 0.3 per cent after announcing a September 10 event that is expected to launch two new versions of the iPhone.

Dow component Verizon fell 2.9 per cent one day after announcing a $130 billion deal to buy out Vodafone’s 45-per cent stake in Verizon Wireless. Vodafone dropped 1.1 per cent.

Microsoft, another Dow component, dropped 4.6 per cent after announcing a $7.2 billion deal to acquire Nokia’s mobile phone unit. US-traded shares of Nokia soared 31.3 per cent.

CBS jumped 4.7 per cent after resolving a contract dispute with Time Warner that had led to a programming blackout in New York City and some other markets. Time Warner rose 1.4 per cent.

Bank of America rose 0.9 per cent after announcing the sale of its remaining equity investment in China Construction Bank. The sale will net a pretax gain of $750 million, Bank of America said.

Other large banks also advanced, including Citigroup (up 2.2 per cent) and JPMorgan Chase (up 1.2 per cent).

Technology shares were strong, led by Amazon (up 2.8 per cent), Google (up 1.6 per cent) and Yahoo (up 2.4 per cent).

Bond prices fell. The yield on the 10-year Treasury jumped to 2.85 per cent from 2.75 per cent on Friday, while the 30-year rose 3.78 per cent from 3.68 per cent. Prices and yields move inversely.