NEW YORK, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) -- Wall Street traded higher Friday, as analysts upgraded companies from Procter & Gamble to homebuilders.

    No major economic reports were on Friday's economic calendar. Investors attached attention to corporate news.

    Shares of Procter & Gamble climbed more than 3 percent as Citigroup raised the stock to "buy" from "hold." Chevron was raised to "outperform" from "neutral" at Credit Suisse Group AG while San Disk added more than 5 percent, after the Bank of America upgraded the biggest maker of flash-memory cards from "underperform" to "buy."

    Moreover, J.P. Morgan lifted view on home-builders sector to positive from negative, saying the housing market has made it through the worst of the correction. Toll Brothers and KB Home climbed on the upgrade.

    As stock prices swang, trading volumes were greater than average because futures and options on indexes and stocks were due to expire.

    The Dow Jones industrial average rose 36.28 points, or 0.37 percent, to 9,820.20. The Standard & Poor's 500 index gained 2.81 points, or 0.26 percent, to 1,068.30. The Nasdaq composite index advanced 6.11 points, or 0.29 percent, to 2,132.86.