The S&P 500 was up 0.43% to 1,827.15 in afternoon trading Thursday.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.30% to 16,011.67, while the Nasdaq rose 0.62% to 4,227.41.
The yield on a 10-year Treasury bond fell 0.98% to 2.74%.
The price of gold was up 0.29% to $1,298.70 per ounce.
Shares of Irvine-based laser maker Newport Corp. shares were up about 3% to $18.92, a day after beating analyst projections on its fourth-quarter results. Newport Corp. had a recent market value of $740.82 million.
Newport Beach-based Clean Energy Fuels Corp. rose about 3% to $9.96 for a market value of $890.01 million.
