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Despite a morning swoon, stocks ended higher Tuesday, in part buoyed by a report that said consumer spending increased more than expected in October.
According to preliminary calculations, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 17.18 or 0.14 percent, to 12,096.16. The S&P 500 rose 6.03, or 0.48 percent to 1,257.80. The Nasdaq added 28.98, or 1.09 percent, to end at 2,686.98.
Americans spent at a decent clip last month, driving U.S. retail sales up 0.5 percent in October amid gains in demand for autos and electronics.
The Commerce Department said U.S. retail sales rose more than expected as strong receipts from motor vehicle and building material dealers offset the drag from service stations, suggesting the economy started the fourth quarter with some vigor.
Walmart’s third-quarter profit dipped, missing analysts’ forecasts. But the world’s largest retailer had its first quarterly revenue gain in more than two years. The report is a positive sign in the midst of otherwise bad economic news. Wal-Mart's core low-income shoppers have been particularly hard hit by joblessness and the other challenges of the weak economy. But the latest quarter indicates that they may be more willing to spend.
European debt issues continued to hang over the market. Higher interest rates on government debt issued by Italy, Spain and other European countries rattled stock markets in Europe early Tuesday.
The market rate for Italy's 10-year bond jumped back above 7 percent. When rates crossed the 7 percent threshold last week, it raised worries about the country's ability to manage its debts. Greece, Ireland and Portugal were forced to seek financial lifelines when their borrowing rates crossed the same mark.
CNBC's Seema Mody & Sharon Epperson discuss the day's major market action.
Previously: Stocks higher entering midafternoon in seesaw day
Associated Press contributed to this report.
Leave a Comment:
Ahhh...the mainstream media propoganda..."Spending= Good". "Growth= Good". Economic stagnation/slowing=bad. In fact, the truth is the opposite. Go figure.
Wait a minute.....
The Dow is not fluctuating because of the EU PIIgs crisis [sarcasm], it swings because:
There.....our "expert economists" can use above for their monthly reports.
Xmas sales started earlier than usual this year in anticipation of a lower holiday sales. Four years into the Great Recession without any hope of a rebound soon, the American economy is retracing the path of the Great Depression of '29. And like the '29Crash, the Double Dip is just around the corner waiting to slaughter the kapless investors.
We're Americans! Can't help but to play with numbers even if it does not pan out in the end! You'd think that we would have felt the dangers of playing with numbers "just like fire" from our past-to-current financial woes but apparently we have not! IT'S TIME FOR A REALITY CHECK!!! No, not a paper one just figuratively speaking....
Why so much emphasis on stocks? Aren't there more important things in life than to gamble with money?
Please people, get a life. Look at all the millionaires that die and not a drop of money goes into the casket with them! That should give you a clue.
"... Wherefore came I forth out of the womb to see labor and sorrow ..."
The WallSt Spinmeisters want naive people to dump their precious money into the laps of the stock brokers who will fleece them time and again.
" Wherefore came I forth out of the womb to see labor and sorrow..". until I became a WallSt stock broker.
The trouble that I see, is it is those die hard "give a gift to everybody" people that are shopping early. I expect Christmas shopping to PEAK on November 25th, and then you will get reports of how bad things are....AGAIN. My family, alone, has lost hundreds of thousands of dollars to the "ECONOMY" in the last 10 years because we decided we valued each other over "things"
People spent more because the price of everything continues to rise. Duh! And when people have no more money to spend then what? There is a limit on how high things can get. What we see happening in Europe will be coming here in the near future. The same thing that brought the Roman Empire down will be the very undoing of this country as well.
Gads what a LOAD OF SH IT!The only reasons why these sales were up was because they sold so many IPHONES PEOPLE.
Apple made out like a bandit and all these IPhones hyped the sales up a bit.
That's what this is all about!
Talk about grabbing for straws!
Any other day, this would be called "essentially flat". 0.14% Sad.