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US stocks edge higher after surge

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New York - US stocks edged higher in early trade on Friday as the market sought to keep alive a winning streak since Wednesday that has recovered most of December's losses.

About 30 minutes into trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average stood at 17 791.26, up 13.11 points (0.07%).

The broad-based S&P 500 added 5.32 (0.26%) at 2 065.55, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 3.24 (0.07%) to 4 751.64.

Wall Street stocks have skyrocketed the last two days, spurred by a Federal Reserve meeting on Wednesday at which the US central bank said it would be "patient" before raising interest rates.

Future product orders

The two-day rally restored most of the 4.6% December decline in the S&P 500 that stood since Tuesday, said Patrick O'Hare, analyst at Briefing.com.

"It has been an amazing turn in a short period of time, yet it is indicative of the nature of this stock market which has endured for six years with the fed funds rate at the zero bound," he said.

Dow member Nike fell 3.3% on concerns that the strong dollar was weighing on future product orders in overseas markets. Earnings for the fiscal second quarter rose 22% to $655m.

Third quarter rose

Canadian smartphone company BlackBerry lost 5.8% as sales for its fiscal 2015 third quarter came in at just $793m, well below analyst forecasts of $931.5m.

Software company Red Hat vaulted 12.8% higher after reporting that sales for the fiscal 2015 third quarter rose about 15% to $455.9m.

Bond prices were mixed. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury dipped to 2.19% from 2.20% on Thursday, while the 30-year edged up to 2.82% from 2.81%. Bond prices and yields move inversely.

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