* Oil slips, spurring rally in a low-volume mkt
* Amazon up over 9 pct, helping Nasdaq rise 1 pct
* Dow up 0.4 pct, S&P 500 up 0.7 pct, Nasdaq up 1.1 pct
(Updates to close)
By Kristina Cooke
NEW YORK, Aug 11 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks rose on Monday
as oil prices closed lower for a sixth day, improving
prospects for consumer and business spending.
The gains built on the market's best week since April. The
fall in the price of oil boosted retailers' stocks before a
batch of earnings from Wal-Mart Stores Inc <WMT.N> and others,
as well as energy-sensitive airline shares.
Apple <AAPL.O> helped the Nasdaq outperform the Dow and
the S&P 500 after Chief Executive Steve Jobs told the Wall
Street Journal about heavy demand for iPhone software
downloads.
Amazon.com <AMZN.O> jumped over 9 percent after Citigroup
said the online retailer's Kindle book reader was on track to
become one of the top electronics gifts of the 2008 holiday
season.
U.S. crude oil futures fell as concerns about slowing
global demand combined with a stronger dollar to knock down
crude prices, despite the conflict between Russia and
Georgia.
But oil prices ended off their lows for the session, which
helped take the steam out of the stock market's rally in the
last hour of trading.
"Every time oil falls, stocks rise at the moment. But oil
is not going to keep going down every day with all that is
going on geopolitically," said Joe Saluzzi, co-manager of
trading at Themis Trading in Chatham, New Jersey.
The Dow Jones industrial average <> rose 48.03 points,
or 0.41 percent, to 11,782.35, while the Standard & Poor's 500
Index <.SPX> gained 9.00 points, or 0.69 percent, to 1,305.32.
The Nasdaq Composite Index <> jumped 25.85 points, or
1.07 percent, to 2,439.95.
Trading volume was low on the New York Stock Exchange,
with about 1.26 billion shares changing hands, sharply below
last year's estimated daily average of roughly 1.90 billion,
while on Nasdaq, about 2.31 billion shares traded,above last
year's daily average of 2.17 billion.
Bank shares also rose but cut gains in the last hour of
trading after a Federal Reserve survey showed banks in the
United States further tightened their lending standards and
terms in all major loan categories, especially for consumer
loans, in the past three months amid a weakening economic
outlook.
Apple Inc's <AAPL.O> shares rose 2.4 percent to $173.56 on
the Nasdaq after the company's CEO told The Wall Street
Journal that iPhone users had downloaded more than 60 million
programs for the device in the month since Apple opened an
online software marketplace. []
AT&T Inc <T.N>, the iPhone's exclusive carrier in the
United States, rose 2.8 percent to $31.84 on the NYSE. The
stock was among those giving the biggest boost to the S&P 500.
It also helped lift the Dow.
Amazon.com Inc soared 9.4 percent to $88.09 on Nasdaq
after Citigroup's note. []
Shares of Wal-Mart Stores Inc <WMT.N> climbed 1.2 percent
to $58.56 on the NYSE after Goldman Sachs wrote in a note to
clients that the world's largest retailer may increase its
profit forecast.
Shares of Ciena Corp <CIEN.O> advanced 6.8 percent to
$18.17 on Nasdaq after Morgan Keegan raised its rating on the
telecommunications equipment makers' shares.
Advancing stocks outnumbered declining ones by about 5 to
3 on the NYSE and more than 2 to 1 on the Nasdaq.
(Editing by Jan Paschal)
