TSC 21: Level 3 Provides Juice

TheStreet.com 21 edged up Friday thanks to strong moves in two bastions of volatility.

The index, designed two months ago as a way to foretell the economy's direction, added 0.76 points, or 0.07%, to 1059.53. It now stands about 6% above its July 3 open of 1000 in what theoretically should be a harbinger of recovery.

Pacing the move were big gains in

Level 3 Communications

(LVLT)

and

Continental Airlines

(CAL) - Get Report

.

Level 3 rose 52 cents, or 11.7%, to $4.97. While there was no obvious news, the shares might have caught a bid on word one of its major investors, Warren Buffett, remains interested in telecom and recently added a big slug of

Nextel

(NXTL)

debt to his company's investment portfolio.

Continental rose 51 cents, or 3.5%, to $15.26. Several airline stocks rallied Friday on news

UAL

won't emerge from bankruptcy this year.

In all, 13 of the indices 21 components rose, on a day in which the

Dow Jones Industrial Average

gained 42 points, or 0.4%, to 9416 and the

Nasdaq

gained 10 points, or 0.6%, to 1811.

Leading to the downside was

Smurfit Stone Container

(SSCC)

, which fell 19 cents, or 1.2%, to $15.78.