U.S. Stocks Rise as Retailer Rally Offsets Debt-Ceiling

U.S. stocks advanced, rebounding from earlier losses in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, as a rally in retail and transportation companies overshadowed concern about discussions on raising the debt ceiling.

Consumer discretionary companies led the gains in the S&P 500 as data showed retail sales rose more than forecast in December. Dell Inc. rallied 7.2 percent, following yesterday’s 13 percent surge, as the computer maker is said to be in buyout talks. Apple Inc. and Hewlett-Packard Co. dropped at least 2.4 percent to pace losses in technology shares. Facebook Inc. retreated 2.7 percent after the company introduced a tool for searching information posted to its social network.