Wall Street snapped a three day losing streak and rose for the first time this week due to improved earnings prospects from retailers and banks. The market opened lower after a report showed a higher than expected jobless claims last week and investors grappled with a weak outlook from Cisco. But falling share prices and merger buzz inspired buying that snapped the streak.

Financial stocks, which have taken a pounding over the Sub prime mess and subsequent write-offs, were some of the day's biggest gainers. Notable advancers included JP Morgan Chase and the Dow’s top gainer Bank of America.

Retail stocks rallied on bargain hunting. JC Penney, one of the top gainers, jumped 8.5% after the retailer reported a smaller-than-expected 1.9% drop in January same-store sales and raised its forecast for the fourth quarter. Cisco shares rose in volatile trading. The networking-gear maker reported earnings in-line with estimates.

The Dow gained 46.90 points, or 0.38%, to 12,247. The Standard & Poor's 500 index shot up 10.46 points, or 0.79%, to 1,336.91. The technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index was up 14.28 points, or 0.63%, to 2,293.03.

A look at how the Indian ADRs performed:

Name Infosys Sify Rediff.com India Satyam Wipro ICICI Bank HDFC Bank MTNL VSNL Dr Reddy's Lab Tata Motors Patni Computer Sterlite Ind

Symbol INFY SIFY REDF SAY WIT IBN HDB MTE VSL RDY TTM PTI SLT

Price 39.94 4.87 8.90 23.98 11.47 56.70 113.35 6.39 23.55 13.62 18.54 13.87 19.68

Change 0.13 0.00 -0.10 0.27 -0.12 -0.06 1.93 0.00 -0.65 -0.20 0.14 0.32 -0.02

Change% 0.33% 0.00% -1.11% 1.14% -1.04% -0.11% 1.73% 0.00% -2.69% -1.45% 0.76% 2.36% -0.10%

Volume 3,529,506 80,140 71,901 826,997 871,362 2,491,753 552,613 289,365 246,150 169,900 896,592 65,500 725,700

High 40.65 4.90 9.06 24.38 11.59 57.60 115.79 6.47 24.20 13.79 18.71 14.00 19.95

Low 38.79 4.79 8.68 23.05 11.18 55.18 110.16 6.11 22.50 13.48 18.08 13.37 19.12