Analysts credit the market's resilience to investors' rising confidence that earnings and the economy are strengthening. That optimism has been evident in nearly two months of rallies with the strongest gains seen in the long-battered tech sector.

The Dow Jones industrial average closed up 44.56, or 0.5 percent, at 8,849.40, according to preliminary calculations. The Dow added to last week's gain of 2.6 percent­ its seventh-straight weekly win.

The broader market also advanced. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 2.34, or 0.3 percent, to 932.89, following last week's 2.3 percent gain.

The tech-laden Nasdaq composite index climbed 13.25, or 0.9 percent, to 1,481.99, having jumped 4.1 percent last week.

Analysts are impressed by the market's momentum but also expect it to pull back, perhaps ahead of Thanksgiving ­ during which the market is closed.

"The market has been on a winning streak. Perhaps the move has been too much, too soon. With a holiday shortened week ahead, many traders are being very nimble, moving quickly in and out of positions," said Alan Ackerman, executive vice president of Fahnestock & Co.

Trading was choppy for much of today with prices occasionally turning negative. Still, the market continued to shake off bad news, this time from Wal-Mart and Federated. Last week, the market edged higher in the face of a drop in housing construction and a profit warning from Hope Depot.

Wal-Mart inched up 6 cents to $53.82, recovering from earlier losses when it reiterated that same-store sales for November will rise at the low end of its 2 percent to 4 percent range. The retailer also said it cannot forecast sales for December.

But Federated fell 65 cents to $31.71 after saying November and December same-store sales will range from unchanged to down 2.5 percent.

Investors have been sensitive to negative news involving consumers, whose spending accounts for two-third of the nation's economy, but they've kept buying on the market's own growing momentum.

Technology managed to build on recent gains, despite brokerage downgrades of big name companies like Intel and Cisco Systems. The tech advance indicates that investors overall are feeling better about the stock market and are willing to take chances on the sector that burned them the most in the bear market.

Intel rose 43 cents to $20.48 despite the fact that Sanford Bernstein lowered its rating on the chip maker to "market perform" from "outperform."

Cisco Systems was unchanged at $14.89 after UBS Warburg downgraded the networker to "hold" from "buy."

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners 4 to 3 on the New York Stock Exchange. Trading volume was moderate.

The Russell 2000 index, the barometer of smaller company stocks, rose 4.84, or 1.2 percent, to 404.84.