Stocks rise for fourth day in a row

Traders gather at a post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange today. Stock indexes are little changed in early trading on Wall Street after three days of gains.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Traders gather at a post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange today. Stock indexes are little changed in early trading on Wall Street after three days of gains.

NEW YORK — Stocks closed higher for the fourth day in a row with a strong showing by retailers like Rite Aid and Ross Stores.

The Dow Jones industrial average closed up 62 points to 14,865 today, a gain of 0.4 percent.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 rose five points, or 0.4 percent, to 1,593.

Technology stocks lagged the market. The Nasdaq composite edged up just two points, or 0.09 percent, to 3,300.

Computer hardware and software makers slumped following a report that PC shipments dropped sharply in the first quarter.

Hewlett-Packard fell 6 percent and Microsoft fell 4 percent, the worst drops in the S&P 500 index.

Three stocks rose for every two that fell on the New York Stock Exchange. Trading volume was slightly below average at 3.3 billion shares.