Wall Street Hits Holiday Week Home Run

FOX Business: The Power to Prosper

Wall Street posted big gains in what was a light trading week that pushed the S&P 500 into the green for the year as traders grew more optimistic about the U.S. economic landscape.

Today's Markets

The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 124 points, or 1%, to 12,294, the S&P 500 rose 11.3 points, or 0.9%, to 1,265 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 19.2 points, or 0.74%, to 2,619.

The markets had a particularly strong, albeit low-volume, week. The Dow jumped 3.6%, while the broader S&P 500 rallied 3.7%. The Nasdaq posted a weaker performance, climbing 2.5%, as technology shares struggled. The S&P joined the Dow in positive territory for 2011, while the Nasdaq is still off by 1.3% for the year.

Retailers led the way on the day, with industrial and tech shares following behind. Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) and Disney (NYSE:DIS) climbed the most out of the blue chips. Airplane-maker Boeing (NYSE:BA) and aluminum-giant Alcoa (NYSE:AA) were the only Dow components to end in the red.

The flow of headlines from Europe, which have driven Wall Street recently, has been relatively slow on the week, giving traders a chance to focus on the U.S. economy, the biggest in the world.

The House approved a two month extension to the payroll tax cut on Friday after quick pre-approval in the Senate following weeks of heated debate and political posturing. The bill was signed into law later in the day by President Barack Obama.

The move was important because many American families would have immediately seen their after-tax incomes shrink if not for the passage, which could have slowed already anemic economic growth, analysts have said.

There was also a slew of economic reports on Friday morning. Orders for long-lasting goods jumped 3.8% in November from the month prior, zipping past estimates of a gain of 2%. The major driver of the gain was a 73.3% surge in civilian aircraft orders, analysts said. Indeed, excluding the transportation component, orders were up 0.3%, slightly shy of the 0.5% gain that was anticipated.

Meanwhile, consumer spending ticked up 0.1% in November, less than the 0.3% economists' had been expecting. Personal income edged 0.1% higher, also missing estimates of a gain of 0.2%.

New sales of single-family homes increased 1.6% to an annualized 315,000-unit rate in November compared to a 1.3% rise in October. The median sale price dropped 2.5% to $214,100 from the same month in 2010. The market for new homes has been sluggish as the supply of houses on the market has remained high and credit conditions have remained tight.

Despite a disappointing reading on third-quarter economic growth, the markets rallied behind data showing weekly claims for unemployment benefits are at the lowest level since April 2008 in the prior session.

Trading volume was low this week as compared to other weeks this year as fewer market participants have been present as a result of the holidays. Several European markets close early on Friday, and the Tokyo Stock Exchange is closed for the entire day for the Emperor's Birthday holiday.

In currencies, the euro fell 0.08% to $1.3039, while the U.S. dollar rose 0.11% against a basket of six world currencies.

Commodities were mixed in light trade. The benchmark crude oil contract traded in New York gained 15 cents, or 0.15%, to $99.68 a barrel. Wholesale RBOB gasoline jumped 1.8% to $2.6872 a gallon.

Gold ticked lower by $4.60, or 0.29%, to $1,606 a troy ounce.

Foreign Markets

European blue chips climbed 0.45%, the English FTSE 100 rallied 1% to 5,513 and the German DAX rose 0.13% to 5,860.

In Asia, the Chinese Hang Seng jumped 1.4% to 18,629, while Japanese markets were closed for a holiday.