Most Equity Indexes Gain

Stocks stayed on a bullish track Tuesday, ending mostly higher despite an upturn in oil prices.

Some small and mid-size share indexes again set records, while the blue-chip Standard & Poor’s 500 index made a run at a four-year high but fell short.

In other trading, the dollar continued its recent sharp pullback, and long-term Treasury bond yields reached a nine-week high.

On Wall Street, stocks rallied late in the session after meandering for much of the day. The S&P; 500 rose as high as 1,225.57, briefly topping this year’s closing high of 1,225.31 set on March 7.

But prices slipped in the final 30 minutes of trading, and the S&P; 500 ended at 1,222.21, up 2.77 points, or 0.2%.

A close above the March 7 mark would put the index at its best level since July 2001.

Most other major indexes also rose modestly Tuesday, and S&P;’s gauges of small and mid-size shares edged up to record highs for a third straight session.

The Nasdaq composite added 7.72 points to 2,143.15, a six-month high.

The Dow Jones industrial average was among the few indexes losing ground. It eased 5.83 points to 10,513.89.

Rising stocks outnumbered losers by 5 to 4 on the New York Stock Exchange and by a narrower margin on Nasdaq.

Wall Street has been in a generally upbeat mood since the third quarter began, amid optimism about the economy and corporate earnings, analysts say.

“Confidence in the market is improving, but it’s improving in very small steps because there’s still risks out there, like oil prices,” said Hugh Johnson, chief investment officer of Johnson Illington Advisors.

Crude futures rose for the first session in four after the government reported that 96% of Gulf of Mexico production was temporarily shut down by Hurricane Dennis.

The production losses were higher than expected, said Phil Flynn, an analyst at Alaron Trading Corp. in Chicago. “If we lost that much with Dennis, people are worried about what’s going to happen with the next storm.”

Near-term oil futures in New York jumped $1.70 to $60.62 a barrel, in turn lifting most energy-related shares.

Some strong corporate earnings reports helped to offset concerns about oil. Soft-drink and snack-food giant PepsiCo rose 75 cents to $54.60 after the company said second-quarter profit rose 13%, topping analysts’ consensus estimate.

Genentech jumped $2.39 to a record $85.89. The biotech giant on Monday said that quarterly profit surged 73%.

“The market is certainly looking at the glass as half full in recent days,” said Robert Doll, chief investment officer at Merrill Lynch Investment Managers. “There is a belief that earnings will be just fine in the second quarter and may be OK in the second half.”

But the bullish tone in the stock market isn’t helping the dollar. It fell sharply for a second day on concern that today’s government report on the nation’s trade balance in May could show a wider deficit.

The euro rose to $1.223 from $1.207 on Monday. The dollar dropped to 110.90 yen from 111.88.

In the bond market, Treasury yields continued to rise, which analysts said partly reflected that investors were selling Treasuries to buy stocks and corporate bonds.

The yield on the 10-year T-note rose to 4.14%, up from 4.10% on Monday and its highest level since May 12. The two-year T-note ended at 3.82%, up from 3.79% on Monday and the highest since March 30.

Among the day’s highlights:

* Many retail stocks rallied on optimism about the economy. Home Depot gained $1 to $41.30, Target added $1.05 to $58.26 and Best Buy jumped $1.07 to $74.69.

* Software stocks helped drive Nasdaq. Autodesk climbed $1.22 to $35.29, Macromedia rose 81 cents to $38.24 and Symantec was up 84 cents to $23.45.

* After regular trading ended, California Pizza Kitchen estimated its second-quarter profit at 32 cents a share, well above the range of 26 cents to 28 cents the company had previously given. The stock jumped to $29.15 in after-hours trading, after falling 25 cents to $27.67 in regular trading.

* On the downside, Manor Care sank $3.22 to $36.54 after the nursing-home operator said Monday that second-quarter earnings would miss expectations because of a drop in occupancy rates.