US stocks closed higher Tuesday, snapping a two-day losing streak, with the Dow industrials buttressed by fast-food giant McDonald's Corp.'s solid August sales and word from General Motors Corp. that it is enticing buyers with fewer incentives. Investors also found comfort in the belief the Federal Reserve would likely cut interest rates at next week's policy-setting meeting by the central bank, with the view little altered by a speech by Ben Bernanke in Germany, in which the Fed chairman offered few, if any, clues.

Traders had been hoping Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke would give some indication during a speech to Germany's Bundesbank about the Fed's next move. Wall Street is looking for a rate cut to help bolster the U.S. economy and ease problems caused by tightening credit availability. Instead, Bernanke talked about the need for countries around the globe to cooperate toward economic stability. He said "global imbalances" occur when countries run up trade deficits or produce big trade surpluses.

Investors nervous about the U.S. economy slipping into recession got a bit of relief from the Commerce Department's report on the U.S. trade deficit. The trade gap narrowed modestly in July to $ 59.2 billion from $ 59.4 billion in June, thanks to record exports of farm goods, autos and other products. Many economists had anticipated a widening of the deficit. The Dow rose 180.54, or 1.38%, to 13,308.39.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 19.79, or 1.36%, to 1,471.49, while the Nasdaq composite index rose 38.36, or 1.50%, to 2,597.47. Bonds fell as investors withdrew money to buy stocks, pushing the 10-year Treasury note's yield up to 4.37% from 4.27% late Monday. The dollar weakened against the euro and British pound, while gold moved higher.

Volume at the New York Stock Exchange came to 1.3 billion shares, with advancing stocks ahead of decliners 3 to 1. At the Nasdaq, nearly 1.8 billion shares were exchanged, and advancing issues topped declining stocks more than 2 to 1.


Indian ADRs end mixed; VSNL rises 3%

Indian ADRs ended on a mixed note. VSNL was amongst the gainers, rising more than 3%, while Patni was amongst the losers, down 3%. In the technology pack, Infosys Technologies was down 0.32% at 46.70, Patni Computers was down 3.02% at 22.45, Satyam Computers was up 0.71% at 24.22, while Wipro ended the day 0.36% higher at 13.87.

In the non-technology pack, HDFC Bank was up 0.68% at 88.60, VSNL was up 3.37% at 20.26, ICICI Bank was up 0.32% at 44.36, MTNL
was up 0.43% at 7.08, Tata Motors was down 0.94% at 16.94, Dr Reddy's Lab was down 0.56% at 16.11 and Sterlite was up 2.47% at 15.40.