Wall Street managed to shake its nervousness from earlier in the week, investing heavily in blue chips and tech stocks in the hopes that Intel Corp. and other major firms come through with positive earnings results.

According to preliminary calculations, the Dow closed up 110.96, or 1.1 percent, at 10,538.14, after a 58-point drop yesterday.

The Nasdaq composite index was up 14.69, or 0.7 percent, at 2,111.13. The Standard & Poor's 500 index was up 9.09, or 0.8 percent, at 1,130.31.

Analysts were looking to Intel in particular to see if today’s gains could be sustained.

"Intel is going to have to blow out its numbers if we want to continue this rally tomorrow," said Todd Leone, managing director of equity trading at SG Cowan Securities. "If not, you can probably expect a decent selloff."

Fellow high-tech bellwethers Apple Computer Inc. and Yahoo! Inc. were also expected to report earnings this afternoon. Intel was down 23 cents to $33.36 and Yahoo! fell 41 cents to $48.39, while Apple rose 10 cents to $24.22.

"What we're hoping to see out of Intel and the others isn't about the actual quarter, but the outlook for '04," said Jay Suskind, head trader at Ryan Beck & Co.

Investors were buoyed by positive economic data. The Commerce Department said the trade deficit shrank to $38 billion in December, the lowest level in a year and lower than Wall Street analysts expected. In addition, the Labor Department said wholesale prices rose by 0.3 percent in December, suggesting inflation is still in check.

The news helped investors offset yesterday's losses, which Brian Pears, head equity trader at Victory Capital Management, saw as a sign of resilience in the market's overall recovery.

"Everybody was talking about the market was being overbought, and we got some selling yesterday that didn't really seem to have a good reason behind it," Pears said. "It's nice to have a day of buying after that. It makes everyone less nervous."

AT&T Wireless Services Inc. jumped 16 percent on reports of potential acquisition talks with Cingular Wireless.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners 9 to 5 on the New York Stock Exchange.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies closed up 4.96, or 0.8 percent, at 586.12.