NEW YORK (TheStreet) — Stocks gained ground Thursday as markets braced for earnings news from Intel(INTC Quote) due after the closing bell.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 37 points, or 0.4%, to 10,718. The S&P 500 was higher, up by 4 points, or 0.4%, at 1150, and the Nasdaq was ahead by 14 points, or 0.6%, at 2321.
Technology shares were among the Dow’s best performers, with Microsoft(MSFT Quote), Intel(INTC Quote) and IBM(IBM Quote) among the top five gainers.

>>Top Mid-Cap Stocks May Beat Benchmarks

Investors will look to Intel after the closing bell, which will report fourth-quarter earnings. Analysts expect the chipmaker to post a profit of 30 cents a share. Shares were up 2.6% to $21.50.

“The market is considering the shape of the recovery in light of earnings,” said Doug Roberts, chief investment strategist at ChannelCapitalResearch.com, adding that investors are wondering how the economy will fare once the government exits its support programs.

Roberts said the uncertainty is the reason why stocks have been trading in a narrow range recently. “There’s no reason to back out of the market, but there’s no reason to rush in and run up prices. There’s value there but investors are wondering what the second act will look like.

“Income-oriented vehicles have been doing well in this environment. With Treasury rates so low, people are looking to cash in on yields and that is a trend that I think is going to continue,” Roberts said.

Prices on U.S. government debt surged, lowering yields after the Treasury saw strong support for its $13 billion auction of 30-year bonds. The auction saw a high yield of 4.64% and a bid-to-cover ratio of 2.68, which was better than the average ratio of 2.41. The two-year note’s yield was down to 0.923%, while the 30-year bond’s yield fell to 4.616%. The yield on the benchmark 10-year note dropped to 3.736%.

Gold prices for February delivery rose $6.20 to settle at $1,143 an ounce, while the U.S. dollar was trading 0.2% lower against a basket of currencies.

President Obama emphasized his commitment to taxpayers in his desire to recover “every single dime” owed to them from the government’s bailout program for U.S. financial institutions. The president proposed a Financial Crisis Responsibility Fee that will require large U.S. banks with more than $50 billion in assets to pay fees for at least 10 years, or however long it takes to repay the government’s Troubled Asset Relief Program.
Despite the talk, bank stocks tracked broadly higher during and after the announcement, as the KBW Bank Index added 1.7%. Shares of Bank of America(BAC Quote) and Citigroup(C Quote) were up by 1.6% and 0.6%, respectively. President Obama said his bank fee proposal was prompted by “reports of massive profits and obscene bonuses.”

Earlier, the Labor Department said initial jobless claims rose in the week ended Jan. 9, coming in at a worse-than-expected 444,000, up from 433,000 claims the week earlier.

The department also said the import price index was unchanged in December, as a decline in fuel prices offset rising nonfuel prices. Export prices rose 0.6%.

The Commerce Department said business inventories rose 0.4% in November, compared with a similar increase in October that was upwardly revised from an uptick of 0.2%. Economists had been anticipating a slight gain of 0.3% in November.

Retail sales for December unexpectedly fell 0.3%, or down by 0.2%, excluding autos. Economists had expected an uptick of 0.5%, or a slight gain of 0.3%, excluding autos.

Volumes on the NYSE Composite Index stood at 2.894 billion. Stocks leading on volume included Citigroup(C Quote), Bank of America(BAC Quote) and Ford(F Quote).

Natural gas futures slumped after the Energy Information Administration said natural gas storage levels fell by 266 billion cubic feet in the week ended Jan. 8.
Although the drawdown was better than the decline of between 253 billion to 258 billion cubic feet that analysts polled by Platts had been expecting, some market-watchers had been hoping for much steeper decline in storage levels. The February natural gas contract fell 15 cents, to $5.59 per million British thermal units.

Elsewhere in commodities, crude oil for February delivery settled lower by 26 cents at $79.39 a barrel.

–Written by Melinda Peer and Sung Moss in New York.

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