* Travelers, McDonald's boost Dow after reporting results
* Netflix, eBay jump on quarterly results
* Dollar gains as stocks come off their highs
* Dow up 0.4 pct, S&P up 0.2 pct, Nasdaq up 0.1 pct * For up-to-the-minute market news see [STXNEWS/US] (Adds Amazon falls after earnings in 13th paragraph; volume in final paragraphs)
By Edward Krudy
NEW YORK, Oct 21 (Reuters) - Wall Street edged higher in a volatile session on Thursday, torn between strong corporate earnings and a surge in the U.S. dollar.
The market swung in a wide range throughout the day as investors reacted to gyrations in the currency markets and as relatively strong earnings took a back seat.
But by the end of the session, the fundamental picture
seemed to win out. The Dow rose, helped by McDonald's Corp
"Companies are continuing to show that they are continuing to make money in a low nominal GDP environment and that they are very good at it and they can continue to do so," said Paul Zemsky, head of asset allocation at ING.
Investors have been trading the dollar and equities against each other recently as expectations the Federal Reserve will pump billions into the economy have pressured the greenback while lifting stocks.
Commodity-linked stocks have been among the most sensitive
to the trade. Occidental Petroleum Corp
"The trade has been: Weak dollar is good for commodities and is good for any risk-related assets like equities. On dollar weakness, buy those things; on dollar strength, get out of those things," said Bill Strazzullo, partner and chief investment strategist at Bell Curve Trading in Boston.
The euro and the popularly traded S&P E-mini futures contract have tracked each other closely in the last month. In the past 22 sessions, they have had a positive correlation coefficient of 0.89.
The euro had earlier climbed to a high around $1.4050 but later was trading down 0.3 percent to $1.3920.
The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> gained 38.60 points, or 0.35 percent, to 11,146.57. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> gained 2.09 points, or 0.18 percent, to 1,180.26. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> gained 2.28 points, or 0.09 percent, to 2,459.67.
Banking stocks were weak as investors continued to wrestle
with confusion in the mortgage market and the chance Bank of
America
"People have been talking about Bank of America for the last few days, and they're going to continue to talk about bank of America until they get better direction from management," said Weston Boone, vice president listed trading at Stifel Nicolaus Capital Markets.
Shares in Amazon.com Inc
McDonald's gained 1.3 percent to $78.44 after it beat expectations for quarterly profit and same-store sales growth in September.
Travelers gained 0.6 percent to $54.98 after the largest publicly traded U.S. property casualty insurer easily beat estimates as premiums rose in its personal insurance lines. [ID:nN21165866] [ID:nN21266849].
Stocks rose nearly 1 percent earlier but the gains were
trimmed by afternoon trade as the U.S. dollar <.DXY> gained
ground. The dollar was up 0.4 percent against major currencies,
while the euro
Online auctioneer eBay
Home Depot Inc
About 8.40 billion shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange, the American Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq -- just below the year's average so far of about 8.77 billion.
Despite the rise in the indexes, declining stocks outnumbered advancers by a small margin on both the NYSE and the Nasdaq. On NYSE 1,507 stocks rose compared to 1,450 that fell, while on Nasdaq the ratio was about 3 decliners to 2 advancers. (Reporting by Edward Krudy; Editing by Kenneth Barry)