Blue Chips Surge

N E W  Y O R K -- Blue chip stocks ended higher following surprisingly strong April retail salesand an unexpected interest-rate cut by the European CentralBank, but technology stocks gave up early gains built onbullish brokerage remarks on semiconductor equipment makers.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 44.46 points,or 0.40 percent, to end at 10,910.44, according to the latestdata, while the Nasdaq composite index fell 27.81points, or 1.29 percent, to 2,128.82. The benchmark Standard &Poor's 500 index slipped one-third of a point to 1,255.19.

Initially, the Nasdaq was strong, threatening to rallythrough the 2,200 mark with a 1.9 percent gain, while the Dowpeaked with a 1 percent gain. Year-to-date, the Dow is up 1.1percent, Nasdaq down 13.8 percent and the S&P 500 off 4.9percent.

Charles Payne, chief market strategist at Wall StreetStrategies, an independent research firm, said the market's partial pullback "is a sign of a bit of a caution. We aremissing a major catalyst to move to the upside, but the flipside is no one really wants to sell either. We have seen thereemergence of the buy-on-the-dips crowd. They are being moreselective, but using weakness to get into the market."

Retailers rallied after many of the stores reportedsurprisingly strong April sales. In early trading, the Standard& Poor's retail index climbed more than 3 percent to ahigh unseen in more than three months, then ended with a 2.8percent gain.

Wal-Mart Inc. rose $1.83, or 3.55 percent, to$53.42 after reporting a 6.5 percent gain in sales. Gap Inc. surged $3.61, or 12.5 percent, to $32.41 after theapparel chain forecast that its earnings would surpassanalysts' estimates and it reported a 19 percent jump in saleslast month.

In the technology arena, Morgan Stanley raised theinvestment rating of six big makers of equipment used in theproduction of semiconductors to strong buy from outperform,saying their stocks had hit bottom. Among the group, AppliedMaterials fell 3 cents to $51.01 after an earlyrally, and KLA-Tencor Corp. rose 59 cents, or 1.2percent, to $50.12.