U.S. stocks edged higher on Tuesday, the one-year anniversary of the market lows reached in the recession, helped by gains in industrial shares as optimism about the recovery remained intact.

Airline and transport stocks rose after UAL Corp's chief financial officer said its United Airlines was clearly seeing signs of recovery. The stock gained 9 percent to $19.09, while the ARCA Airline index <.XAL> jumped 3.4 percent.

United Technologies Corp was up 1.6 percent at $71.90, leading gains on the Dow.

On the downside, Cisco Systems Inc slipped 0.5 percent to $26.01 after the company unveiled a new higher capacity router. The shares rose almost 4 percent Monday in anticipation of the announcement.

I'm still bullish on the market for intermediate term, said Chris Burba, short-term market technician at Standard & Poor's in New York.

Demand is strong at the moment, he said.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> gained 29.32 points, or 0.28 percent, at 10,581.84. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> rose 3.84 points, or 0.34 percent, at 1,142.34. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> was up 11.54 points, or 0.49 percent, at 2,343.75.

Kroger Co fell 1.6 percent to $22.53 after the top U.S. grocery chain said fiscal-year earnings could miss expectations as it posted higher-than-expected quarterly profit.

Also lower was Texas Instruments Inc , which said late Monday it was struggling to fill orders due to increased demand for chips but raised its forecasts. The stock fell 2.7 percent to $24.03.

One year ago, Wall Street hit a more than 12-year low in the wake of the financial crisis. The S&P 500 is up 68 percent since then, as economic and earnings reports repeatedly pointed to signs the economy was strengthening.

(Reporting by Caroline Valetkevitch; editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)