U.S. stocks up again on technology
Safeway Inc. joins the crowd speeding up cash dividends
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — U.S. stocks turned mildly higher Thursday, with an optimistic forecast from Broadcom Corp. helping to lift the technology sector and as investors await news about fiscal cliff negotiations.

“I think this will get resolved, if not by end of the year, by early 2013,” Gus Faucher, senior economist at PNC Financial Services Group, said of the automatic steep spending cuts and tax increases slated to begin in January.

The standoff appears to be weighing on business confidence, but “on the other hand consumers don’t appear terribly concerned,” said Faucher of recent data illustrating consumer sentiment at multiyear highs. http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-stocks-wo...atest_news