Blue-chip stocks powered ahead yesterday and broke the market's curse that has produced lower closes for the last eight consecutive Fridays as Wall Street celebrated the latest good news on the economy. The bond market was also sharply higher.

The Dow Jones industrial average closed up 81.99 points at 7,742.97.

In the broader market, advancing issues swamped declines by a 3-1 margin on active volume of 545 million shares on the New York Stock Exchange.

"The numbers most definitely brought back some conviction to the market. Everyone had been very nervous for the few days running up to reports," said Mr Jay Meagrow, a trader at McDonald & Company.