The S&P 500 is up for a 4th day in a row. Jobless claims aren't as bad as feared. Google hits a new intraday high; Apple comes back from early lows. Gold finishes at an 11-month high. Coal stocks jump.
A soft jobs market is not the only reason for the sell-off in stocks and oil. Add in weak Hewlett-Packard results and economic weakening in Europe and China. Gold manages to end higher. New-home sales grind higher; housing stocks slip.
An 83-point loss for the Dow shrinks to 31 points as minutes show the Federal Reserve inching toward a new economic stimulus plan. Hewlett-Packard earnings beat estimates, despite soft PC sales. Dell sags. Housing shows some strength.
The blue chips just miss a close of 13,000 in a rally sparked by a decent report on jobless claims. Salesforce.com, AIG results cheer. Apple ponders what to do with $98 billion in cash. Speculators briefly push oil above $108.
Target's quarterly results fail to impress investors, while Sears announces plans to sell stores to raise cash.
Earnings from the big retailers and Dell, Hewlett-Packard and Target will signal if the big rally since October can continue. European financial ministers and Greece agree on terms of a rescue package. Rising oil prices are a threat.
The blue chips sag after an IMF offer to help nations caught up in Europe's woes proves limited. Hewlett-Packard sags on an earnings warning. Merck pays $950 million to settle Vioxx issues. Stocks look to open lower on Wednesday.
The computer maker will report quarterly results after the market closes. Alleghany says it will buy Transatlantic Holdings for $3.4 billion.
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