Telephone Companies Help Buoy Stock Gain

American stocks posted their second gain this week, buoyed by the prospect of increasing sales and earnings at telephone companies, raw-materials producers, and luxury retailers.

The advance, led by phone carrier AT&T Inc., steelmaker Nucor Corp. and department-store chain Nordstrom Inc., enabled the market to recoup about a third of its losses since February 27. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index and the Nasdaq Composite Index rose to one-week highs after falling yesterday, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed to its highest this month.

"Earnings are still good, the economy is still growing," the chief investment officer at Bingham Legg Advisers LLC in Boston, Hans Olsen, said. "After the craziness of last week, people will come back to the fundamentals and they'll look at how companies are actually performing."

The S&P 500 added 9.92, or 0.7%, to 1401.89. All 10 of its main industry groups rose. The Nasdaq increased 13.09, or 0.6%, to 2387.73. The Dow average advanced 68.25, or 0.6%, to 12,260.70.