- Avis on the Road to Strong Growth: Analyst
- LinkedIn’s Growth Is Already Priced In: Analyst
- The Real Reason Behind Bank of America’s Rally
- 5 Hedge Funds’ Top Stocks Soar After 2011 Rout
- Bulls Check In to Community Health
- Bank of America’s Worst-Case Scenario Gets More Real
- Mulling Buffett's Stock Advice? Get in With REITs: Fund Managers
- So Now You Can’t Give Microsoft Away?
- Is Bill Gross, PIMCO's Bond King, Losing His Touch?
- Greece Austerity Deal Runs Into Trouble Once Again
- Why Greece Will Default, Leave Eurozone
- Housing Still Hurting Consumers, Economy: Bernanke
- Get Ready for $5 Gas This Year: Ex-Shell CEO
- Diamond Investing: Why It's Not for the Faint of Heart
- Obama Backs Down on Birth Control Plan
- Israel Likely to Bomb Iran This Year: Political Analyst
- The World's Best Beers
MOST SHARED
- Get Ready for $5 Gas This Year: Ex-Shell CEO
- US Hedge Fund Manager Charged with Insider Trading
- Anthony Scaramucci: S&P 500 Stocks Still Cheap
- LinkedIn’s Growth Is Already Priced In: Analyst
- The Real Reason Behind Bank of America’s Rally
- Investing in the Fountain of Youth
- Verizon, Coinstar Team Up to Take on Netflix
- We Are Well Positioned for 2012: CEO Alcatel Lucent
- Clint Eastwood ‘Surprised’ by Reaction to Chrysler's ‘Halftime in America’ Ad
- Is Bill Gross, PIMCO's Bond King, Losing His Touch?
MOST POPULAR
HOT ON FACEBOOK
Dow Up 100 Points, Led by Disney
Text Size 
CNBC.com
Stocks clawed higher Friday as quarterly results from Disney and JCPenney helped offset worries about a drop in consumer sentiment.
It was a wobbly morning: Stocks started the day higher, then retreated, then made another push higher. But by midday, the Dow was up more than 100 points, or 1 percent.
The Dow snapped a six-day winning streak Thursday, sliding nearly 1 percent, but is still on track to finish up for the week.
Reuters and the University of Michigan reported their gauge of consumer sentiment dropped to 66 in November, its lowest level in three months and well below the 71 economists had expected.
Earlier, a report showed the US trade deficit swelled to its highest level in more than 10 years as import prices climbed 0.7 percent.
The news was good from overseas: Germany and France both logged their second straight quarters of growth. And IMF managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said he doesn't see a double-dip recession.
Disney [DIS
Loading...
()
] was the biggest gainer on the Dow after the entertainment giant beat expectations for both earnings and revenue after the bell Thursday.
Merck [MRK
Loading...
()
] and Travelers [TRV
Loading...
()
] rounded out the Dow's top three.
J.C. Penney [JCP
Loading...
()
] gained after the department-store operator reported its profit fell but raised its full-year forecast.
 |
This came a day after Wal-Mart [WMT
Loading...
()
] beat earnings expectations but delivered a light holiday forecast.
Elsewhere in retail, teen chain Abercrombie & Fitch [ANF
Loading...
()
], which has been hard hit by the recession, beat earnings expectations. High-end retailer Nordstrom [JWN
Loading...
()
] missed Wall Street's profit target but raised its full-year outlook.
JPMorgan shares [JPM
Loading...
()
] slipped after CEO Jamie Dimon said no bank should be considered too big to fail. Such an idea is "politically, economically and ethically bankrupt,'' Dimon wrote in an op-ed in the Washington Post.
Dollar General [DG
Loading...
()
] rallied in its debut on the New York Stock Exchange. Shares priced last night at $21 a share. The IPO raised $716 million.
Qualcomm shares [QCOM
Loading...
()
] rose after Wells Fargo upgraded its rating on the stock to "outperform." The stock is a good way to play all the smartphones if you don't want to call a winner, since their chips are in most smartphones, Morgan Keegan analyst Tavis McCourt said earlier this week on Fast Money.
Some big M&A news from overseas: British Airways [BAY-LN Loading... ()] and Iberia announced a $7 billion merger that would create the world's third-largest airline by revenue.
And, Liberty Global is planning to acquire Unity Media, Germany's No. 2 cable operator in a deal worth $3 billion.
An interesting deal on this side of the pond: Playboy [PLA Loading... ()] is apparently in talks to sell itself to Iconix [ICON Loading... ()], which owns the Candies, Joe Boxer and Rocawear brands.
Oil was below $77 a barrel after Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi says the Saudis will double their oil refining capacity by 2015.
Gold was around $1,107 an ounce, after touching an all-time peak of $1,122.85 yesterday, and the dollar edged higher against the euro but dropped against the yen.
Send comments to .
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes
