* National Semi results lift chipmakers
* Retail sales drop for first time in 8 months
* Consumer sentiment tops estimate
* Dow up 0.4 pct, S&P 500 up 0.4 pct, Nasdaq up 1.1 pct
* For up-to-the-minute market news see []
(Updates close with latest volume, adds VIX reference)
By Rodrigo Campos
NEW YORK, June 11 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks rose in a late
rally on Friday as a strong forecast from a chip maker lifted
tech shares and helped alleviate concerns about the economy's
health after an unexpected drop in retail sales.
National Semiconductor Corp <NSM.N> rose 5 percent to
$14.21 a day after it forecast margins and revenues above
estimates after a horrible 2009 []. The
Philadelphia Semiconductor index <.SOXX> rose 1.4 percent.
"The macro news has been increasingly negative, but you
still have some companies reporting good forecasts, and people
start to think (selling) got a bit overdone," said Doug
Roberts, chief investment strategist at
ChannelCapitalResearch.com in Shrewsbury, New Jersey.
"National Semiconductor made a positive announcement.
That's why you're seeing the strength primarily in tech," he
said.
Even so, the volume was lackluster, indicating little
conviction that the advance will continue next week.
The Dow Jones industrial average <> gained 38.54
points, or 0.38 percent, to 10,211.07. The Standard & Poor's
500 Index <.SPX> rose 4.76 points, or 0.44 percent, to
1,091.60. The Nasdaq Composite Index <> climbed 24.89
points, or 1.12 percent, to 2,243.60.
For the week, the Dow rose 2.8 percent, the S&P gained 2.5
percent and the Nasdaq advanced 1.1 percent.
COLD DAY FOR RETAILERS
U.S. retailers' sales unexpectedly fell in May for the
first time in eight months, the U.S. Commerce Department
reported.
But a jump in a consumer sentiment index to a near
2-1/2-year high in a preliminary reading for June tempered
fears of a slowing economic recovery. The consumer sentiment
reading came from the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan
Surveys of Consumers.
Consumer-related shares were the hardest hit, with Home
Depot <HD.N> down 1.5 percent at $32.22, and Procter & Gamble
<PG.N>, down 1.5 percent at $61.01, weighing down the Dow
industrials. The S&P retail index <.RLX> slid 0.2 percent.
But commodity-related companies also gave support to
stocks, with the S&P materials sector <.GSPM> up 1.2 percent.
U.S. Steel Corp <X.N> jumped 3.8 percent to $44.82.
VIX FALLS
In another bullish sign, the S&P 500 found technical
support around the 1,077 level that marks its 14-day simple
moving average. The benchmark posted its first back-to-back
close above its 14-day SMA since late April.
The CBOE Volatility Index <.VIX>, a gauge of investor
anxiety, fell 5.8 percent to settle at 28.79, its lowest level
since May 13.
Big-cap pharmaceutical companies' shares also advanced
after Barclays Capital upgraded the sector to "positive" from
"neutral," citing the revenue potential of new products.
[]
Pfizer Inc <PFE.N> was the Dow's top percentage gainer, up
3.7 percent at $15.46.
U.S.-listed shares of BP Plc <BP.N> climbed 3.6 percent to
$33.97 as UK officials made supportive comments about the
company, even as scientists doubled estimates of the Gulf of
Mexico's oil spill. [] and []
About 7.31 billion shares traded on the New York Stock
Exchange, the American Stock Exchange and Nasdaq, the lowest
in more than two months and sharply below last year's
estimated daily average of 9.65 billion.
Advancing stocks outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by
a ratio of about 11 to 4, while on the Nasdaq, about five
stocks rose for every two that fell.
(Reporting by Rodrigo Campos; Additional reporting by Leah
Schnurr; Editing by Jan Paschal)
