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6A Daily News – Friday, December 30, 2011 NEW YORK (AP) — Better news on home sales and improved prospects for job growth sent stocks higher on Wall Street Thursday. The Dow Jones indus- Stocks up on new home deals, job growth prospects Wall Street trial average rose 135 points, nearly making up its 140-point loss from the day before. The S&P 500 edged back into the black for 2011, with just one more day of trading left in the year. The four-week aver- age of unemployment claims fell to a three- and-a-half-year low, an indication that hiring could pick up. Also, the number of Americans who signed contracts to buy homes in November rose more than 7 percent to the highest level in a year and a half, accord- ing to the National Asso- ciation of Realtors. Quincy Krosby, Pru- dential Financial's mar- ket strategist, said the reports were encourag- ing signals for the econ- omy going in to 2012. ''The correlation between jobs and hous- ing has been crystal- clear this year,'' Krosby said. ''Parts of the coun- try where jobs are more plentiful are the ones where the housing mar- ket has held up.'' Krosby said the corre- lation has become more pronounced after the real estate bust, when lenders became reluctant to even consider customers for a mortgage unless they held jobs. She said it's a noticeable trend in many cities nationwide. For instance, Boston's Counseling Center Giving Families Hope! Did you think we were just for children? • Individual & Family Counseling • Couple/Relationship Issues • Anger • Depression • Anxiety • Emotional Trauma • Family Relationships • Parenting Call our office for more info. 529-9454 Red Bluff 590 Antelope Blvd. Suite B-30 Corning Counseling Center 275 Solano Street #2 1.1 percent drop in home prices since last year was one of the lowest among metro areas tracked by S&P/Case-Shiller index. The city's unemploy- ment rate is 6.2 percent, much lower than the national average of 8.6 percent. The positive housing news sent the stocks of home builders sharply higher. Masco Corp. soared 8.4 percent, the most in the S&P 500. PulteGroup Inc. rose 6 percent and Lennar Corp. gained 4.6 per- cent. The Dow closed at 12,287.04, a gain of 135.63 points, or 1.1 percent. For the year, the Dow is up 709 points, or 6 percent. The S&P 500 rose 13.38 points, or 1.07 percent, to 1,263.02. That's just 5 points above where the index started the year. The technology-heavy Nasdaq composite rose 23.76 points, or 0.92 percent, to 2,613.74. The index if down 39 points for the year. Trading was very light as investors get ready to close the books on 2011. Markets will be closed Monday in obser- vance of New Year's Day, which falls on Sun- day. Volume on the New York Stock Exchange was 2 billion shares, less than half of its recent average. Gaining stocks led losing ones four-to- one. The euro fell to its lowest level against the dollar in more than a year and its lowest against the Japanese yen in a decade. The euro went as low as $1.28 versus the dollar, its weakest since September 2010. Investors continued to be worried that Italy's 10-year borrowing rate remains uncomfortably close to 7 percent, a level that economists consider unsustainable. Greece, Ireland and Portugal all had to seek relief from their creditors after their 10-year bond yields rose above 7 percent. Italy paid 6.98 per- cent on a 10-year bond auction where it raised $3.3 billion. That's lower than the 7.56 per- cent it had to pay at an equivalent auction last month, but not low enough to assuage investors. Italy's new premier said his govern- ment has more to do before it convinces financial markets it can manage the heavy debts that have made it the focus of the euro zone crisis. news: In other corporate — Chesapeake Mid- stream Partners rose 5 percent after the natural gas systems operator agreed to acquire Chesa- peake Energy Corp.'s pipeline business. — Hill International Inc. rose 3 percent after the construction man- agement company was awarded a $3.3 million contract to build a new stadium in Iraq. — Sears Holdings Corp. fell 1 percent as investors worried over the fate of the retailer, two days after it said it was closing over 100 stores nationwide. KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A Tennessee National Guardsman had his Christmas Eve inter- rupted by news that a vehi- cle had smashed through his house — in the exact same spot another one did nearly two years ago. Vehicle smashes into Tenn. house — again In February 2010, a runaway construction truck had run into Doug Edmisten's house when he was home from Iraq for his son's birth, The Knoxville News Sentinel reported (http://bit.ly/vUJqyJ). RANDAL S. ELLOWAY DDS IMPLANTS DENTISTRY 2426 SO. 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