Wall Street: Wednesday open

ANOTHER batch of strong earnings pushed Wall Street higher as investors grew more optimistic that the economic recovery is firmly under way. Tech shares jumped on upbeat results from

In early trading, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 22.88, or 0.2% at 9,835.86, having gained 48.60 in the previous session to its highest close since May 2002. The Nasdaq composite index gained 15.11, or 0.8% to 1,958.30.

The Commerce Department reported that the nation's retail sales fell by 0.2%. The result was slightly worse than analysts' estimates of a 0.1% dip. However, the government also revised sales figures upward for July and August to 1.4% and 1.2% respectively.

Investors have pushed stocks to 52-week highs in recent days as investors become more confident that quarterly earnings will be better-than-expected. But analysts caution that stocks could see declines if expectations become too high and companies don't meet them.

Intel jumped $1.40 to $32.48 after it reported sales growth of 20% to $7.8bn amid strong demand for its computer microprocessors. It predicted fourth-quarter sales of between $8.1bn and $8.7bn. Intel earned $1.7bn, or 25 cents a share, on sales of $7.8bn for the quarter ended in September. During the same period last year, Intel earned $686 million, or 10 cents a share, on revenue of $6.5bn.

Financial stocks also gained. Wachovia rose 11 cents to $44.42 and FleetBoston Financial increased 14 cents to $32.77 after both banks reported profits that topped expectations.

Decliners included General Motors, which slipped 6 cents to $43.91 even though the automaker reported a jump in profits that beat analysts' projections.