Data, Calendar Boost Stocks

Those gainers helped the Nasdaq overcome a 7.7% decline in shares of Sirius Satellite Radio (SIRI Quote), which lowered its fourth-quarter subscriber forecast.

The S&P was further boosted by strength in Kroger (KR Quote), which posted strong earnings and guidance, as well as energy stocks such as Exxon Mobil (XOM Quote) and Chevron (CVX Quote), which rallied as oil inched back toward $63 per barrel.

Individual stories aside, "there is an underlying bid to the market here," says Michael Driscoll, director of listed trading at Bear Stearns. "There are no great big guns, or big volume days every day, but the market has a definite upward bias."

With essentially three weeks left in the year, the latent demand and year-end behavior that keeps stocks running to new highs are unlikely to abate. So good news trumps bad -- at least until the eggnog runs out.