US stocks clawed out narrow gains in choppy trade Friday as investors digested the Federal Reserve's abrupt interest rate hike and the dollar weakened, lifting commodity prices. After sinking in early trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average managed to rise 9.45 points (0.09 percent) to close at 10,402.35, posting the fourth day of gains in the holiday-shortened week. The technology-rich Nasdaq composite index rose 2.16 points (0.10 percent) to 2,243.87 and the broad-market Standard & Poor's 500 index advanced 2.42 points (0.22 percent) to 1,109.17. 'Traders' jangled nerves were soothed by comments from New York Fed President William Dudley, who said that last night's news 'is not at all a signal of any imminent tightening' in monetary policy, but simply a reaction to the improving fundamental outlook for major US banks,' said Elizabeth Harrow at Schaeffer's Investment Research. 'As a result, the bulls were able to extend their winning streak to a fourth consecutive session -- if only by the slimmest of margins.' The session got off to a negative start as investors reacted to the Fed's announcement after the market closed Thursday that it was raising the rate on emergency loans to banks, known as the discount rate, by a quarter point to 0.75 percent, effective Friday. The central bank said the action was part of changes to terms of its so-called discount window lending programs 'in light of continued improvement in financial market conditions.' 'While the increase doesn't alter our forecast for the central bank to leave both the interest paid on excess reserves and the target fed funds rate unchanged until the fourth quarter, it has added some uncertainty in financial markets,' said Chris Lafakis of Moody's Economy.com. Scott Marcouiller at Wells Fargo Advisors said that 'a mild report on consumer inflation eased concerns that the Federal Reserve might hike its benchmark interest rate in the near future.' The Labor Department reported its consumer price index inched up less than expected, by 0.2 percent, in January amid the sluggish recovery from recession. Core CPI, stripping out food and energy, fell 0.1 percent in the first decline in 27 years. Investors had a raft of company earnings reports to pore over. Computer maker Dell plunged 6.65 percent to 13.47 dollars after reporting late Thursday a 42 percent profit drop for its fiscal year, despite improvement in fourth-quarter revenue. Rival Hewlett-Packard, the world's top computer maker, slipped 0.04 percent to 50.79 dollars. HP on Wednesday posted a 25 percent increase in quarterly profit. Honeywell rose 0.93 percent to 40.22 dollars after the diversified tech and manufacturing company raised first-quarter earnings guidance. Retail department store chain JC Penney outperformed, jumping 6.55 percent to 27.66 dollars after earnings beat market expectations. Tire maker Goodyear slid 5.87 percent to 13.46 dollars after a Deutsche Bank downgrade. Oil-field services firm Smith International soared 13.04 percent to 37.70 dollars on media speculation it could be in talks for a takeover by French-US rival Schlumberger. Bonds climbed. The yield on the 10-year Treasury bond fell to 3.782 percent from 3.803 percent Thursday and that on the 30-year bond dropped to 4.702 percent from 4.752 percent. Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions. 