Wall Street edges up after GDP, consumer confidence data

By Ryan Vlastelica

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks edged higher on Tuesday following a reading on economic growth that was much stronger than expected, but sharper gains were difficult to come by in a quiet week with major indexes at records.

The Commerce Department raised its estimate of third-quarter gross domestic product to a 3.9 percent annual pace from the 3.5 percent rate reported last month. The reading was also stronger than the 3.3 percent rate that had been expected, pointing to strengthening fundamentals that should support the economy for the rest of the year.

"This continues the general trend of data pointing to a strong economy, and it indicates that the surge of activity we've seen is valid," said Bruce McCain, chief investment strategist at Key Private Bank in Cleveland.

Equities have been strong of late. The S&P is on track to rise for the 13th time in the past 15 sessions, and all three major indexes are coming off five-week streaks of gains. Both the Dow and S&P are at record levels, and the S&P is up more than 13 percent from an intraday low in mid-October.

The speed of the rally could lead to profit-taking, and market moves may be amplified by the low volume expected this week, with some market participants out for the Thanksgiving holiday. The U.S. stock market will be closed on Thursday and will close early on Friday.

"Valuations are a bit stretched, but as long as fundamentals continue to move forward investors will find a way to keep moving prices higher," McCain said. "I don't think we'll see anything to disrupt this move."

Apple Inc rose 0.7 percent to $119.44, which pushed the tech giant's market cap above $700 billion for the first time.

Tiffany & Co rose 3.5 percent to $108.71 after same-store sales growth beat expectations.

Nuance Communications Inc, whose voice recognition software runs Siri on Apple's iPhones, late Monday reported revenue growth of 6.4 percent. Shares rose 3.9 percent to $15.93.

Workday Inc late Monday forecast fiscal 2016 revenue below expectations, sending shares down 4.3 percent to $88.30.

At 10:02 a.m. (1502 GMT) the Dow Jones industrial average fell 0.32 points, or 0 percent, to 17,817.58, the S&P 500 gained 1.1 points, or 0.05 percent, to 2,070.51 and the Nasdaq Composite added 8.18 points, or 0.17 percent, to 4,763.07.

A reading of consumer confidence fell to 88.7 in November, the lowest since June, from October's revised read of 94.1. Expectations were for a reading of 96.

Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by 1,749 to 968, for a 1.81-to-1 ratio on the upside; on the Nasdaq, 1,378 issues rose and 882 fell for a 1.56-to-1 ratio.

The S&P 500 posted 60 new 52-week highs and no new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 87 new highs and 14 new lows.

(Editing by Nick Zieminski)