* Manufacturing activity in New York rebounds in December
* Industrial output posts biggest gain since July
* Moody's warns on Spain credit rating
* Stocks gain: Dow 0.3 pct, S&P 0.1 pct, Nasdaq 0.3 pct
* For up-to-the-minute market news see []
(Updates to morning trade)
By Angela Moon
NEW YORK, Dec 15 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks edged higher on
Wednesday as better-than-expected data on U.S. manufacturing
and industrial activity outweighed worries about euro-zone debt
sparked by a warning on Spain's credit rating.
Investor concerns over a possible Moody's downgrade of
Spain gave way as data showed manufacturing rebounded in New
York state this month after falling sharply in November.
U.S. industrial output in November also rose, posting its
biggest gain since July, as signs emerged of a firmer end to
the year for the world's largest economy. For details, see
[] []
"We walked in this morning with a potential downgrade by
Moody's, which brought back the macro concerns, but what we are
seeing here is just an overall positive bias to stocks all the
way to the year end," said Kevin Kruszenski, head of listed
trading at KeyBanc Capital Markets in Cleveland.
"At this point, most people are thinking they would rather
be in stocks than anything else."
The Dow Jones industrial average <> was up 32.21
points, or 0.28 percent, at 11,508.75. The Standard & Poor's
500 Index <.SPX> was up 1.37 points, or 0.11 percent, at
1,242.96. The Nasdaq Composite Index <> was up 6.87
points, or 0.26 percent, at 2,634.59.
Wall Street ended mostly flat on Tuesday on a late-day
sell-off after another cautious assessment on the strength of
the economy from the U.S. Federal Reserve.
The S&P 500 is up more than 7 percent from a year ago, but
bullish sentiment continued to rise among financial advisers
surveyed in the weekly Investors' Intelligence poll.
The percentage of financial advisers who are bullish on the
stock market rose to 56.8 percent, up from 56.2 percent last
week. The percentage of bearish investors fell to 20.5 percent
from 21.3 percent last week, according to the poll.
"The current above-55 percent (bullish) reading makes it
risky to take on many new positions, with a strong likelihood
that the rally is nearing a top," Investors' Intelligence said
in a note to clients.
Novartis AG <NOVN.VX> <NVS.N> has wrapped up its
long-awaited buyout of the remainder of U.S.-listed Alcon Inc
<ACL.N> it didn't own. []
U.S-listed shares of Novartis was up 6 percent at $59.18,
and Alcon gained 1.8 percent to $165.32.
Investor Carl Icahn said he had agreed to buy power
producer Dynegy Inc <DYN.N> for $665 million in cash, just
three weeks after a bid by private equity firm Blackstone Group
<BX.N> failed to win over Dynegy shareholders. []
Dynegy shares were up 4.2 percent at $5.68.
(Editing by Padraic Cassidy)
