Wall Street edges up on stimulus hopes Boeing jumped more than 2.5 per cent on Tuesday after its shares received an upgrade from analysts despite the effects of a slowing global economy on the aviation industry. The aircraft manufacturer rose 2.7 per cent to $72.03 by midday in New York as Bernstein Research raised its rating of the company's shares from "hold" to "buy." The report from the research firm also revised the company's target price to $92 from $85 and said that the share price decline at Boeing "is an overreaction to macroeconomic difficulties." The company's stock has fallen 1 per cent in the last year. Douglas Harned, analyst at Bernstein, said: "We expect that negative earnings revisions are likely, but believe investors should ignore them and instead focus on the outlook for deliveries and progress on the 787 programme." Overall, US equities were off to a strong start in the week's second trading session. A day earlier, US markets suffered losses. Some attributed Tuesday's rise to renewed speculation that policy makers will do more to stimulate the economy. The S&P 500 added 0.6 per cent to 1,316.37 by midday. Kenneth Polcari, the managing director at ICAP NYSE, said investors are expecting the extension of the current Operation Twist or a new stimulus plan by the Federal Reserve over the weekend. "The Federal Reserve is ready to support the market and the economy after it sees how the Greek election goes later this week," Mr Polcari said. Among the S&P 500 sector indices, materials and energy stocks led the gains. First Solar , the thin-film solar panel maker, surged 13.7 per cent to $14.02 after a Bloomberg report said that unexpected demand from Europe would allow the struggling company to delay a production plant closure in Germany. Shares in First Solar have fallen 58 per cent since the start of the year and are among the most heavily shorted by investors. Valero Energy , the oil and ethanol refiner, added 3.2 per cent to $22.54. Shares of Alcoa , the world's second-largest aluminium company by market capitalisation, moved up 1 per cent to $8.39. Financials, the worst-performing sector on Monday, returned to positive territory, with most large banks inching forward on Tuesday. Bank of America increased 1.2 per cent to $7.36, while Morgan Stanley gained 1.3 per cent to $13.55. Citigroup rose 1.1 per cent to $26.78, even though the company was removed from a list of top growth stocks selected by BofA Merrill Lynch Global Research team. JPMorgan Chase increased 1.4 per cent to $33.28 as chief executive Jamie Dimon prepares to testify in front of a congressional committee. BlackRock , however, lost 0.2 per cent to $171.70. A Reuters report said the money manager had received several proposals to help it restructure its unlisted Australian property trust. The blue-chip heavy Dow Jones Industrial Average moved up 0.8 per cent to 12,508.26. Earthmoving equipment maker Caterpillar traded at $85.63, up 0.5 per cent, while Walmart ticked up 0.2 per cent to $67.63. Factset Research tumbled 10.1 per cent to $93.99 after the financial data provider reported third quarter revenue that fell short of analysts" estimations. The Nasdaq Composite index added 0.6 per cent to 2,825.35. Apple , the most heavily weighted stock in the index, rose 0.6 per cent to $574.26 after the iPhone and iPad producer said on Monday that it plans to launch a new Maps application. Ben A. Reitzes, an analyst at Barclays, said investors are likely to expect more from Apple after its worldwide development conference on Monday, although many of the software innovations were ahead of expectations. Barclays reiterated a "buy" rating for Apple and predicted further gains of the company's market capitalisation. Mr Reitzes added: "We expect another major event in early September to release the next iPhone and several other key hardware products." The satellite navigation manufacturer Garmin added 2.8 per cent to $39.27. The stock declined on Monday after Apple's announcement of its new mapping solution that is seen as a possibility to further weaken the GPS market. Shares of Facebook increased 1.6 per cent to $27.44. Analysts on Tuesday continued to question the effectiveness of the social-networking website's paid advertising model. Facebook shares have sunk 28 per cent from their public offer price of $38. Shares of Zynga lost 11 per cent to $4.94 as analysts said that daily active users for the game developer declined 8.2 per cent in May. Pandora dropped 7.1 per cent to $10.36 as the internet radio service provider reported disappointing fourth quarter earnings.