NEW YORK — Blue-chip stocks rose sharply Thursday on the latest round of strong corporate profit reports. Technology stocks ended modestly lower as investors took some profits from the big gains of Monday and Tuesday and struggled to chart a course in the volatile sector.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 169.09 to close at 10,844.05. The Dow ended the four-day week with a gain of 538.28 points, or 5.2 percent.
The NASDAQ composite index fell 62.53 to close at 3,643.88. Even with losses Wednesday and Thursday, the NASDAQ rose 322.59 points, or 9.7 percent, for the week after plummeting a record 25.3 percent the previous week.
Broader indicators were mostly higher. The Standard & Poor's 500 rose 7.07 to 1,434.54.
Financial stocks paced the Dow. American Express rose 3 47/64 to 143 and J.P. Morgan gained 2 1/16 to 1307/8. Also, Wal-Mart rose 23/4 to 57 11/16.
The primary focus, however, was on earnings reports. Companies are nearing the peak of the reporting season, with about half the companies in the S&P 500 having released their first-quarter reports, and most have reported strong profit growth.
United Parcel Service rose 4 7/16 to 631/2 after the company reported earnings that topped expectations. Commerce One, which provides electronic-commerce software and services, rose 7 9/32 to 55, also on better-than-expected results.
"The strong earnings have been a very pleasant surprise to this market," said Alfred E. Goldman, director of market analysis at A.G. Edwards & Sons Inc. in St. Louis. He said money now is going to companies with the best earnings prospects.
Technology shares came under some selling pressure as investors cashed in on the market's recent gains. On Monday and Tuesday, the NASDAQ rose a total of 472 points, with record point gains each day, and the Dow average gained 461.
The sharp rise earlier this week wiped out a portion of the crushing losses sustained during last week's devastating selloff. Traders are still feeling their way through the battered technology sector, knocking down stocks that ran up sharply at the start of the year but beginning to pick up issues that fell sharply in last week's rout.
JDS Uniphase fell 6 5/16 to 85 3/16 and Intel fell 3 11/16 to 1153/8.
Analysts said investors this week concentrated on earnings reports and other signs of fundamental strength as they determined which stocks to buy.
"That's exactly what investors should be doing but had given up doing in recent months," said Bernard Horn, mutual fund manager at Polaris Capital Management.
"The market is behaving in a much more normal, more rational manner."
While stocks have generally moved higher this week, many economists remain concerned about whether the economy is growing too fast.
The Labor Department reported Thursday that new claims for unemployment benefits plummeted last week to the lowest level in nearly 27 years, indicating that businesses are scrambling to find workers.
There have been concerns that the tight labor market will spur higher inflation because employers have to recruit workers with big increases in wages and benefits. The increased costs could then be passed along to consumers in the form of higher prices.
Federal Reserve policy-makers, fearful that too-rapid economic growth could revive inflation, have raised interest rates five times since June. Many investors worry that continued signs of brisk growth will spur the Fed to raise rates several more times this year.
Financial markets are closed for the observance of Good Friday. Bond markets closed at 2 p.m. Thursday. Ahead of the long weekend, composite volume on the New York Stock Exchange totaled a moderate 1.07 billion shares, compared with 1.20 billion in the previous session.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 4-to-3 margin on the NYSE.
The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 4.39 to 481.84.
Overseas, Japan's Nikkei stock average fell 0.7 percent. Germany's Xetra DAX index fell 0.8 percent, Britain's FT-SE 100 rose 0.9 percent, and France's CAC-40 rose 1.1 percent.