Retail Pummels Stocks; Dow Off 338

Host of negative news hurts markets

(NEWSER) - Stocks tumbled at the open today, after a raft of negative news overshadowed yesterday’s big rally. The Dow fell 128 points, while the Nasdaq and S&P shed 2% and 1.8% respectively. The Dow shot up more than 500 points yesterday, but today brought a dismal quarterly report from Freddie Mac, a slashed outlook from Nokia, and a record decline in retail sales in October. More»

S&P 500, Nasdaq also rise

(NEWSER) - Markets are up, at least for now: The Dow was up more than 100 points at open, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq following suit, up about 11 and 13 points, respectively, MarketWatch reports. An upbeat report on retail sales no doubt prodded stocks upward: July sales rose a seasonally adjusted 0.5%, their biggest gain in four months. Currently the Dow is hovering in the 11,200 range. More»

Mastercard reports better-than-expected holiday sales

(NEWSER) - Stocks faltered but managed to reclaim most of the day's gains in the final hour of today's session. The day saw light trading volume and news of a bump in retail sales from MasterCard's SpendingPulse unit, the Wall Street Journal reports.

• The Dow gained 26.98 points to close at 10,547.08.
• The Nasdaq added 5.39, closing at 2,291.08.
• The S&P 500 rose 1.30 to settle at 1,127.78.

Retail sales beat expectations in November

(NEWSER) - Stocks ended today's session mixed, with the Dow posting solid gains. Alcoa saw a. 8% jump on an optimistic profit estimate by JPMorgan, and the University of Michigan/Reuters December consumer sentiment index beat expectations, the Wall Street Journal reports.

• The Dow rose 65.67 points to close at 10,471.50.
• The Nasdaq fell 0.55, settling at 2,190.51.
• The S&P 500 gained 4.06, closing at 1,106.41.

Dow Up 2.5% from week-ago close

(NEWSER) - Stocks finished off their intraday highs but with solid gains on strong earnings reports from Disney, Abercrombie & Fitch, and JCPenney, the Wall Street Journal reports.

• The Dow gained 73.00 points to close at 10,270.47.
• The Nasdaq added 18.86, settling at 2,167.88.
• The S&P 500 rose 6.24, closing at 1,093.48.