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NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. stocks tacked on further gains to push the S&P 500 to a two-year high on Monday, continuing a steady upward march investors believe will continue in 2011.

Volume was light, as is expected through the rest of 2010. Investors stayed with sectors that have led a sharp December rally, including financials, energy and materials stocks. The S&P 500 is up 5.7 percent for the month and 11.8 percent for the year.

"We have seen this year-end rally refuse to give up any ground," said Bucky Hellwig, senior vice president at BB&T Wealth Management in Birmingham, Alabama.

The combination of improving economic data, additional stimulus from the Federal Reserve and the extension of tax cuts was keeping equities in demand, Hellwig said.

The financial sector (.GSPF), which has lagged the broader market, was up 0.4 percent as some investors bet the sector could be among the leaders next year after a strong December.

However, American Express (AXP.N) tumbled 3.4 percent to $42.50 after Stifel Nicolaus downgraded the stock to "hold" from "buy."

Boeing Co (BA.N) also kept gains in check. The stock was down 2.7 percent to $63.27 after the Seattle Times newspaper said a delivery delay could be announced for the plane maker's 787 Dreamliner aircraft.

The Dow Jones industrial average (.DJI) dipped 13.78 points, or 0.12 percent, to 11,478.13. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index (.SPX) added 3.17 points, or 0.25 percent, to 1,247.08. The Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC) rose 6.59 points, or 0.25 percent, to 2,649.56.

U.S. markets will be closed on Friday to observe the Christmas Day holiday on Saturday.

Energy shares led the way up as the price of oil rose nearly 1 percent in choppy trading. Chevron (CVX.N) added 0.4 percent to $88.88.

Amazon.com (AMZN.O) helped boost the Nasdaq on optimism the company will benefit from improved holiday spending. According to research firm comScore, U.S. online sales are up 12 percent to $27.5 billion so far this season compared with a year ago.

Shares of Amazon gained 3.2 percent to $183.29, while the S&P consumer discretionary sector (.GSPD) was up 0.6 percent.

Amex shares are down 7.8 percent since last Thursday when the Federal Reserve proposed limiting debit interchange fees at 12 cents per transaction.

Stifel said the company is increasingly exposed as a cut in fees "will significantly increase pressure on higher-cost payments alternatives like Amex."

Nick Kalivas, senior equity index analyst at MF Global in Chicago, said some of the optimism over the financial sector was sapped by last week's proposal.

"There was the feeling there could be some opportunities in the banks and I think the interchange (proposal) cooled that," said Kalivas.

Food and beverage company Sara Lee Corp (SLE.N) has been in talks to sell itself to Brazilian meat producer JBS (JBSS3.SA), but the two companies are at odds over price, a source said. Sara Lee shares rose 2.5 percent to $17.69.

About 6.37 billion shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange, the American Stock Exchange and Nasdaq, well below last year's estimated daily average of 9.65 billion.

Declining stocks slightly outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by 1,534 to 1,482, while on the Nasdaq, decliners beat advancers 1,383 to 1,273.

(Reporting by Leah Schnurr; Editing by Kenneth Barry)

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Phil Dobbin, an analyst at Shore Capital, moved his stance on Henderson to "sell" from "hold", saying: "We struggle to see merit in this deal from Henderson's perspective, we view Gartmore as a damaged franchise which, we do not feel it is unfair to say, has performed disastrously since its IPO both operationally and in terms of stock rating."

Joining Gartmore amongst the laggards were a smattering of retailers as investors worried that the fresh bout of snow could melt sales during what is one of the most crucial trading periods of the year for the sector.

"While in normal times most of any retail sales lost to bad weather is also normally made up, this may be less the case than normal due to the proximity of Christmas," said Howard Archer of IHS Global Insight. But Nick Bubb, an analyst at Arden Partners, pointed out that as snow fell in London this time last year and caused disruption in January, there were soft comparatives coming up for retailers.

Nonetheless, Next, Marks & Spencer and Associated British Foods - owner of Primark - all edged back, falling 17p to ￡19.68, 2? to 372.9p and 5p to ￡11.28 respectively. Although the biggest casualty of the snow was British Airways, which fell 5 to 265.2p.

Amongst the second-liners, many retailers were on the decline. Dixons Retail, Home Retail Group and Mothercare fell 1.51 to 22.84p, 4.7 to 192.1p and 11? to 615p each. Also hurting the latter was another broker downgrade. UBS cuts its rating on the maternity and baby goods retailer to "neutral" from "buy" on valuation grounds.

Supergroup was also feeling the effects of a cautious broker note. The owner of the streetwear brand fell 27p to ￡13.34 as Execution Noble reiterated its "sell" stance on Supergroup.

But in a wider note on the retail sector, the broker said consumer confidence was thawing and as such, kept their "neutral" stance on the sector. "With redundancy expectations in the public sector becoming even more unrealistic and consumers already bracing themselves for a deterioration in their finances, we think there are further improvements to come for consumer confidence," said Execution Noble analysts.

Despite investors checking out of the retailers, the FTSE 100 as a whole was on better form. The benchmark index gained 19.86 to 5891.61 - just scraping a new high for the year - while the FTSE 250 put on 6.33 to 11433.11.

The rise came the Stoxx Europe 600 index climbed to its highest level since September 12 2008 - the last day of trading before the collapse of Lehman Brothers.

Helping the blue-chips into positive territory was a strong showing from the utility companies. Centrica and National Grid which put on 4.7 to 335.3p and 11 to 563p respectively.

Also on the ascendant was Diageo. The world's biggest drinks company gained 16p to ￡11.96, as it was also helped by a note from Unicredit.

The broker raised its rating on Diageo to "buy" from "hold", saying it believed that now is the time to turn more positive on the spirits sector.

Analysts pointed to the potential for M&A activity at Diageo, with opportunities "clearly emerging in the industry" and Diageo having the "financial muscle to take advantage of them".

Carnival and InterContinental Hotels benefited from broker upgrades too. The former sailed up 37p to ￡28.01 as analysts at HSBC started coverage of the cruise operator with an "overweight" rating. "We prefer Carnival to Royal Caribbean for its diversified fleet and branding, superior returns and lower leverage," said the broker.

Meanwhile, Numis upgraded InterContinental Hotels to "buy" from "add", pushing the stock up 15p to ￡12.49. Analysts said that the outlook for the hotel industry was improving and that the company was exposed to the recovering US market as well as having a "very strong" position in emerging markets such as China and India.

Amongst the second-liners, Exillon Energy and Cobham made an impressive entrance to the FTSE 250, rising 6.2 to 308.7p and 4.6 to 203.3p respectively. But identity theft insurer, CPP led the charge, putting on 20.9 to 305p ahead of a trading update on Tuesday.

The London Stock Exchange put on 15? to 838?p as Borse Dubai said it currently had no plans to sell its stake in the London exchange.

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NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. stocks added to gains on Thursday after a gauge of future U.S. economic activity and a survey of manufacturing activity in the Mid-Atlantic region both rose.

* The Dow Jones industrial average (.DJI) jumped 150.34 points, or 1.37 percent, to 11,158.22. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index (.SPX) added 16.40 points, or 1.39 percent, to 1,194.99. The Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC) climbed 36.11 points, or 1.46 percent, to 2,512.12.

(Reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak; editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)

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NEW YORK--U.S. consumer sentiment increased more than expected at the beginning of November and hit its best level since June, helped by a little better economic prospects and sales start of holiday, a survey showed on Friday.

The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan read the feelings of consumers come to 69.3, preliminary November 67.7 in October and slightly higher than the median Reuters forecast 69.0.

Playback on the overall index was just above average four months, but the high 68.2 started 76.0 in June, according to the report.

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"The slight improvement in sentiment suggests that spending will continue to close of rhythm through Christmas, which is better than expected there are still a few mois.Mais it wasn't enough to ébrécher materials in the unemployment rate,"said Christopher Low, Chief Economist at FTN Financial in New York."."

Unemployment was 9.6% in October, according to the latest report to government jobs.

One-year inflation expectations measure of inquiry also acquired sense, borders up to 3.0% of 2.7 per cent last month and reached its highest level since May.

"The increase was due to many consumers least not anticipating any inflation at all the", Director of the investigation, Richard Curtin, said in a statement.

The barometer of the current economic situation is passed to 79.7 76.6, October reading also above an estimate of 77 0.Comme sense reading, the highest level since June.

In October, a gauge of consumer expectations is passed to 62.7 61, 9.Mais as a prediction of 63.5.

U.s. markets showed little reaction to data, with the reference standard & Poor 500 index decreased by 1.0% due to a slide in stocks of natural resources.

However, stocks are rallied from end of August and S & P is up to 15 per cent since close 31 ao?t.Attentes of the stimulatory economic of the Federal Reserve announced last week, moving support has contributed to the increase.

Copyright 2010 Thomson Reuters.Cliquez on restrictions.

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Have progressed 228 million net profit of ￡ within three months to 30 September, 186 million from ￡ last year, she added 96,000 clients to take total subscribers 9.95 m. revenue increased by 15pc to. 53bn ￡ 1.

Unsubscribe - the percentage of customers who have left the service - was stable at 11 2pc, while the average revenue generated by the user to a new record of ￡ 514.

The company said the amount paid by each client has been strengthened by the demand for complementary products such as HDTV and broadband

Earlier this year, BSkyB rejected News Corp's Rupert Murdoch bids for 61pc company has pas.News Corp. offered 7 ￡ 8bn or 700 p a share in June, but the broadcaster was looking for ￡ 8. 9bn or 800 p a share.

Mr. Darroch made attention bid saying: "it is business as usual."

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