Traders-Blog.com

Stocks closed higher after investors made a beeline for shares that dropped to attractive prices during last week’s sell-off, although Amazon.com Inc. and other retailers were pressured by concerns about the strength of holiday shopping sales. However, falling oil prices helped offset a weak report on holiday retail sales.

Today, the Dow Jones industrial average closed up 64.41 or 0.52% to 12,407.63, the broader S&P 500 index closed up 6.14 or 0.44% to 1,416.90, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite closed up 12.33 or 0.51% to 2,413.51.

Volume was light with many investors on vacation. Market breadth was positive. On the New York Stock Exchange, advancers topped decliners by a margin of two to one on volume of 800 million shares. On the Nasdaq, winners beat losers by a margin of 17 to 11 as 1 billion shares changed hands.

While the Santa Claus rally has lifted stocks this month, stocks had trouble finding momentum ahead of the holiday weekend. Today, all three major gauges posted gains in thin trade, despite reports that sales for the holiday shopping period grew about 6.6% - below last year’s 8.7%. However, the recent corporate takeover boom has been partly responsible for turning investors’ attention away from the disappointing year-end retail sales reports.

Stock of Microsoft Corp. closed up 1.2% at $29.97, after it was in focus following a WSJ.com report that the company is leveraging personal and search information gleaned from its Hotmail e-mail program and its Live Search engine in a worldwide effort to target ads at users of its sites. The method, called behavioral targeting, is designed to allow advertisers to more efficiently reach exactly the audiences they want. However, computer-security experts have found potentially serious flaws in Microsoft’s new Vista operating system.

Shares of Eli Lilly & Co. finished 0.8% higher at $51.78, after the FDA approved Byetta injection as an add-on therapy to improve blood-sugar control. The treatment has been approved for people with type 2 diabetes who have not achieved adequate control on other medications.

Stock of Telika closed down $11.49 or 70% to $4.77, after the drug maker said its experimental cancer drug failed to improve survival in patients with advanced lung cancer or ovarian cancer.

Light sweet crude oil sank $1.31 to $61.10 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange as mild Northeast weather offset concerns about Iran’s nuclear program.

All the best,
Manuel Jesus-Backus
The Portfolio Crafter
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