* GE lifts dividend again, stock rises
* Nasdaq posts 8th straight daily gain, hits 3-yr high
* Netflix gains 1.9 pct ahead of joining S&P 500
* Dow up 0.4 pct, S&P up 0.6 pct, Nasdaq up 0.8 pct
* For up-to-the-minute market news see []
(Updates to close)
By Rodrigo Campos
NEW YORK, Dec 10 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks rose on Friday,
with the S&P 500 at its highest level since the week Lehman
Brothers collapsed in 2008, and breaching technical levels
that suggest the year-end rally will persist.
Indexes closed near session highs with the Nasdaq
Composite up for its eighth consecutive daily gain; in that
time, the tech-heavy index is up 5.5 percent. The Nasdaq
finished at its highest level since Dec. 31, 2007. Volume was
below average as is typical for this time of the year.
Industrial shares led the pack, with General Electric
<GE.N> up more than 3 percent after it raised its dividend for
a second time this year. The S&P industrial sector index
<> rose 1.03 percent.
After the S&P 500 ended on Thursday above 1,228, the
closely watched 61.8 percent retracement of its drop from late
2007 to March 2009, the benchmark index managed to hold above
that key level for a second day.
"That met some significant resistance so closing above
there and staying above there is a pretty good sign," said Art
Hogan, chief market analyst at Jefferies & Co in Boston.
The S&P 500 tried and failed to breach 1,228 back in April
and later in early November, with both attempts followed by
steep declines.
The Dow Jones industrial average <> added 40.26
points, or 0.35 percent, to 11,410.32. The Standard & Poor's
500 <.SPX> gained 7.40 points, or 0.60 percent, to 1,240.40.
The Nasdaq Composite <> rose 20.87 points, or 0.80
percent, to 2,637.54.
For the week, the indexes also posted gains. The Dow rose
0.2 percent, the S&P 500 was up 1.3 percent and the Nasdaq
added 1.8 percent.
The Nasdaq Composite, boosted by a 2.3 percent gain in
shares of Oracle Corp <ORCL.O>, hit its highest level since
December 2007. Oracle shares closed at $29.95.
In the latest signs of improvement in the U.S. economic
recovery, data showed consumer sentiment rose more than
expected in early December, according to the Thomson
Reuters/University of Michigan survey, while import prices in
November climbed at their fastest pace in a year.
Another positive signal came from the Commerce Department,
which said the U.S. trade deficit narrowed much more than
expected in October. [].
Overseas news helped boost equities, after a slew of data
showed China's imports and exports jumped in November, bank
lending topped forecasts and property investment powered
ahead. China increased reserve requirements for banks but kept
interest rates on hold. For details, see [].
GE jumped 3.4 percent to $17.72 after the company said
quarterly payments to shareholders will increase by 2 cents to
14 cents per share. [].
Lifting the S&P health care index <.GSPA>, Tenet
Healthcare Inc <THC.N> shares jumped 55 percent to $6.65,
easily surpassing the $6-per-share bid from Community Health
Systems Inc <CYH.N> and likely forcing the potential buyer to
raise its offer for the rival hospital company.
[] The S&P health care index was up 0.9 percent.
Community Health shares rose 13.4 percent to $35.89.
Shares of Netflix Inc <NFLX.O> rose after Standard &
Poor's said the company, along with F5 Networks Inc <FFIV.O>,
Newfield Exploration Co <NFX.N> and Cablevision Systems Corp
<CVC.N>, will be added to the S&P 500 index after trading
closes next Friday. For details see [].
Netflix added 1.9 percent to $194.63, Cablevision jumped
4.1 percent to $34.72, Newfield gained 3.3 percent to $72.37
and F5 Networks rose 3 percent to $143.09.
About 7.4 billion shares traded on the New York Stock
Exchange, the American Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq, below
the year's average of 8.62 billion.
Advancing stocks outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by
a ratio of almost 2 to 1, while on the Nasdaq, more than two
stocks rose for every one that fell.
(Reporting by Rodrigo Campos; Editing by Jan Paschal)
