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Investors' ongoing mixed feelings about Europe’s debt woes seemed to turn optimistic Tuesday as stocks rallied from the opening bell. The Dow ended the day back over 12,000 for the first time in nearly two weeks and the major indexes all rose more than 2.5 percent.
According to preliminary calculations, the Dow Jones industrial average closed up 335.73 points, or 2.85 percent, to 12,101.99. The last time the Dow closed above 12,000 was Dec. 12. The S&P 500 rose 35.87, or 2.98 percent, to 1,241.22. The Nasdaq was 80.59 higher, or 3.19 percent, to 2,603.73.
At the close, CNBC called the day the best for stocks in a month.
A jump in apartment building also seemed to help the market. The Commerce Department said builders broke ground on 685,000 new homes last month, a 9.3 percent jump from October. That's the highest level since April 2010. Building permits, a gauge of future construction, increased 5.7 percent, spurred by a jump in apartment permits.
German business and consumer confidence rose unexpectedly in December, and the Spanish government pulled off a successful debt auction. Both helped to ease worries about Europe's debt crisis.
Borrowing costs for the Spanish government plunged at an auction of short-term debt, a sign that investors are becoming more confident in the country's ability to pay it back.
"Spain has plenty of problems, large debts and budget deficits," said Sam Stovall, chief equity strategist at S&P Capital IQ. "So when we see debt auctions go much better than expected it's very encouraging."
Spain raised €5.6 billion ($7.3 billion), much more than its goal of €4.5 billion. Investors demanded an interest rate of only 1.74 percent to lend to the government for three months, a steep fall from the 5.1 percent at an auction in November.
Analysts cautioned that other big rallies in the stock market have been quick to fade as traders move quickly to get out of stocks and keep more money in cash. "If you're selling into rallies, it means people want out. They don't believe it's sustainable," said Quincy Krosby, Prudential Financial's market strategist.
Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Up down. Up down. The stock market changes every day and each day there is a dramatic story about how little it has changed.
I'm trying to figure out why this is even a story. Tomorrow the stock wil be down again.
Obama 2012. it's working!!!
(and stop rooting against the economy and OBSTRUCTING progress you unpatriotic TeaBaggots!!!)
I guess because they have to report something? It's been
updownupdownBIGUPdowndownupdown for a while now.
Mostly it's a chance for forumers to attack some political viewpoint.
Stocks are up because your tax dollars, once again, are funding foreign banks.
Isn't Globalism great? Isn't it great that Americans fund other countries central bank failures? Isn't it great that America's soverignty is being sold down the river and STILL people mindlessly chant OBAMA? GINGRICH? ROMNEY?
Obama is still the worst leader any advanced nation has ever had. I invest heavily, and his presidency has been marked by more instability and uncertainty than anything which came before it. Most of you liberal sheep will blame Bush for this, but that's just an old joke as far as I'm concerned. Obama is in charge, and has been for almost 3 years. Either you ascribe today's failures to him, or you better be ready to ascribe everything positive which has happened in those three years to Bush, right along side with the failures.
You can't have it both ways.
I hope he falls and falls hard in 2012. He's poisonous to everything which built this country. Thankfully, most of those who matter - those who control the means of production - agree.
This is absolutely the dumbest thing I have ever read on the internet. Congratulations!
the reporting of the wild fluctuations is realy baseless
if Obama has chest pains it will raise, if Romney farts it will go down
It took almost 8 years for Bush's policies to destroy us. It takes a long time for new policies to have an effect.
Yep, no stability till after the election. No one knows the rules yet.
Obama could deliver a 40' trailer full of gold to every man woman and chile and the teabaggers would come up with reasons why credit should go to Bush and that Obama was ruining the country
Wow too many liberals, you are ALL on the wrong track!
So, where is the good news in all of this?
With Europe sinking into depression and real unemployment in this country well past the numbers of the Great Depression, I ask again.
Where is the good news?
In the BSNBC spin machine.
@PP Stop and think how many more millions are living now then the Great Depression. If our Stock Market stay's in the 11,000 and 12,000 things won't be quite like Europe. keep the faith.
lol
Believe what you wish. Today was a 'pump & dump' rally. Today the pump - next will be the profit taking ...
Stock prices surge; Dow tops 12,000 mark AGAIN?????? BIG DEAL!
BUBBLES BUBBLES BUBBLES, pop pop pop!
Why do you want America to fail?
I hope Santa is looking out for us! God knows we need someone to help.... Obama is clueless and his Goldman Sucks advisors are making a bundle!
All I want for Christmas is a new government.... the last one we got needs to be returned for a refund!
ABO 2012! More than ever......!
Scrooge will probably visit Wall Street before Christmas with a stocking full of coal and more worries for investors about Europe debt issues and cause a big nosedive day.
can only hope, prices are high enough now
Builders are going to flood the market with apartments and this a good thing? we already have an over capacity of apartments & now they are going to drive those markets into the ground. Further driving down the price of single family homes as monthly mortgage rates will have to compete against crashing apartment rents. This is going to be the "slum dog" bubble. builders will lose because they can't sell the building/complex & homeowners will lose when these complexes infect their local neighborhood with blight and squaller.
No Virginia, this is not Santa Claus. Just the Gov wanting to ensure BSNBC could spin to you how great the economy is doing so you will spend your last dollar on some dumbass imported trinket that sends more money away from US jobs and keeps your mind of the hyper-inflation that is coming that will make your entire savings worthless in less than a few years.
Check out Zimbabwe and what their government did to them with hyper-inflation - we are becoming a mirror image of that train wreck, even their pres said "woah, you all need to stop printing money, we of all countries should know it's going to kill your economy".
In January the stock's will drop, there will be a big scare about jobs market falling, happens every year after the christmas help is gone. Do not be afraid. It will all round out by July. The jobs are coming.
This hardly reason to jump up and down.
...but there has been more good than bad economic data of late.
Seriously after christmas is over and every person overspent to make everyone happy. They will resume the life of living pay check to pay check and gradually decline. Stop posting unnecessary articles of false hope to an already gloomy reality.
To further lift the spirits during the Holidays of those who are being brought down by the dismay of the Chinese leadership continuing to keep their citizens isolated from the rest of the world without the freedom to freely elect their leaders and the fact that Varyag is now afloat to menace Japan, Vietnam, South Korea and the Philipines America has a response to the menace in the form of the carrier based X-47B that can be read about in the 2011 Vol 188 No 12 issue of Popular Mechanics.
China is coming for the world and Santa Clause's Skunkworks are putting in the overtime to make certain that China doesn't take away your freedoms and rights.
False hopes & market manipulation are at it again
I guess the people in the foreclosed houses need some place to live. Maybe the federal government can help with the security deposit. :)
But the problem with today is it probably didnt make your portfolio go up all that much. Maybe only 1%. The investor is still down for the year 10-15% money wise. Today didnt even get close to recovering last weeks massive losses money wise. Someone again is playing games with numbers.
It is normal after a deep recession for the American Economy to bounce back , but that is NOT happening now,, and the reason is Barack Obama and the Democrats.
Smart people understand that a country cannot continue to overspend and borrow. Except Obama and the Democrats. They both have a total aversion to budgets and recognizing that our National Deficit is costing us $ 4 billion a day in interest payments that will only increase until spending is cut.
Part of the answer to any chance of normal prosperity in our country is Reducing the Size of Government . The US Gov. wastes more money each year than most countries take in . We are in a period of the most reckless spending in the history of our country. Long time Democratic sponsored entitlements ,, Soc. Sec., Medicare, Medicade, Food STamps, etc... must be altered or lost. The Democrats simply REFUSE to recognize this situation !!!!!
Obama is hopelessly over his head ! He is almost out of the news and no one really knows what he is doing,, certainly not supplying Leadership in Washington. Obama is NO REAGAN who excelled in Leadership and working with the Opposite party to move America Forward !
If Barack Obama is re elected, America is DOOMED !
Already the younger generation is facing a bleak future and wondering if they will ever have a shot at the success millions of Americans have achieved. The young, the retired, the Jewish population , so many of the typical Democratic voters,, plus all Independents,, MUST REALIZE THAT OBAMA IS DESTROYING THE COUNTRY,, AND THIS IS NO FALSE CLAIM.
IT IS BECOMING MORE AND MORE APPARENT,, THAT OBAMA IS EITHER TOTALLY INEPT, OVER HIS HEAD,, OR WORSE,,, PLANS ON DESTROYING AMERICA... HOW SAD THIS MUSLIM BORN SON OF COMMUNIST PARENTS , AND BACKED BY THE AMERICAN COMMUNIST PARTIES,, HAS THIS POSITION.
EITHER OBAMA IS DEFEATED,,, OR ALL OF US WILL ONLY REMEMBER WHAT LIFE IN AMERICA USED TO BE LIKE BEFORE HIS BIG GOV. , BIG SPENDING, ANTI PRIVATE BUSINESS,, AND CLASS WARFARE AGENDA,, WRECKS THIS COUNTRY !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
randall,
Just another gloom troll on this vine.
Randall, do you realize that the stock market is up over 50% since your idiot hero BUSH 2 left office, and Obama took over? Bush left office with the Dow at 7949. Today, the Dow closed at 12,103!
Check it here...
http://www.nasdaq.com/
Oh, crap! That ruins your whole argument! Oh crap!!!!
You can't help but wonder if these numbers and the information about the economy doing better is not just more lies and deception. They would like you to believe things are improving, but the numbers just don't add up, like the unemployment rate at 8.6 when it's well known that it's more like 22% when all things are considered. Government has destroyed any believability one can have in what they say being the master manipulators that they are.
Do the Paul. Eliminate government and lets get back to work
I blame Obama! LOL!
we will all be in a world of hurt when the @!$%# hit's the fan and it will soon. the news tells us what we, or i mean what they want us to here, the rich and that means the government all of them. this conutry is so messed up that they can't tell us what is really going on because of wide spread panic and now that north korea has no leader iran will come into play and it will be nasty,tell me why we send so much money to countries that hate our guts but we can't feed a child here or pay are on bills something is not right and we are just so stupid we keep on beliveing what they tell us we should do like the unions do and go on strike i mean every body the hole country.
Greed and fear. Stocks seem to have nothing to do with US productivity but only the greed and fear of investors. Today apparently no one read the story about China's real estate bubble and its' falling exports now three months running in a downward trend. Who knows what it means but stocks everywhere seem to be about making a lot in a hurry. They and the banks have become giant casinos without the stigma some still see in gambling. We'll live to see how this all turns out.
obama all he talks about is the future what about right now if i can't find a job now my kids will not have a future. obama needs to worry about now and people that are trying to feed their kids, not were we will be twenty years from now it does me no good what happens twenty years from now i am 51 years old and the way things are going i will be dead before then i need to feed my family now.also there is nobody that i would vote for eather side..........
Up! Down! Up! Down! Up! Down!........... WTF?...........Crash again soon?
Remember the good ol days when the stock market reacted to how "companies" were actually performing??? Not like now, I have a stomach ache so SELL!!! Or, I heard from someone that somebody said something about someone who heard from so and so that They think that they don't think that someone has a stomach ache, so BUY!!!!!!
How did we ever get here???
james,
How do you justify your position in stocks, without doing some research on your OWN???
Quit listening to rumors, buck up and do some searching!
http://www.vectorvest.com/?gclid=CKPTqpyskq0CFQR5hwodQRUiag
http://www.morningstar.com/
...and others.