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10A Daily News – Friday, January 13, 2012 NEW YORK (AP) — A drop in oil prices and strong bond auctions in Europe drove stocks to a slightly higher close Thursday. Stocks finish higher after late-day recovery Wall Street The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose for the fourth straight day. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 21.57 points, or 0.2 percent, to end at 12,471.02 It was down most of the day, losing 64 points in the first hour of trading, follow- ing a spike in unem- ployment claims and a weak report on Decem- ber retail sales. Materials and indus- trial companies led the afternoon recovery. Caterpillar and Alcoa rose the most in the Dow. The S&P 500 fin- ished up 3.02 points, or 0.2 percent, at 1,295.50. The Nasdaq compos- ite rose 13.94 points, 0.5 percent, to 2,724.70 Stocks drove higher in the last hour and a half of trading after oil prices dropped below $100 per barrel for the first time this year. Oil fell on rumors that Europe will delay an embargo on Iran. Crude plunged $2 a barrel in just eight minutes, end- ing at $99. Also pushing stocks were strong bond auc- tions in Italy and Spain. European markets ended mostly higher rose after Italy and Spain held highly successful bond auctions, easing worries about Europe's debt cri- sis. Italy's benchmark stock index rose 2.1 per- cent. In Italy's first bond auction of the new year, the country was able to sell one-year bonds at a rate of just 2.735 per- cent, less than half the 5.95 percent rate it had to pay last month. That's a signal that investors are becoming more con- fident in Italy's ability to pay its debts. Spain was able to raise double the amount of money it had sought to raise in its own bond sale as demand for its debt was strong. Both auctions were seen as important tests of investor sentiment. Investors have been worried that Italy and Spain, the third- and fourth-largest countries in the euro area, might get dragged into the region's debt crisis. Greece, Ireland and Por- tugal have been forced to get relief from their lenders after their bor- rowing costs spiked to levels the countries could no longer afford. The euro rose nearly a penny against the dol- lar, to $1.28, as worries eased about Europe's financial woes. The cur- rency, which is shared by 17 European coun- tries, fell to a 16-month low against the dollar the day before. In other trading, corn futures plunged 6.1 per- cent to $6.12 per bushel after the government reported that supplies of the grain were higher than traders had expect- ed. Wheat also fell 5.6 percent. An auction of 30-year Treasury bonds drew meager interest from investors as cash flowed back into Euro- pean debt. It was the latest day of quiet trading in the stock market. There have been six consecutive days with moves of less than 1 percent in the S&P 500, the quietest stretch since May. Ralph Fogel, invest- ment strategist and part- ner at Fogel Neale Part- ners in New York, said the moderate moves were an encouraging sign following the steep rises and sudden declines that were typi- cal of last summer. "This is a much healthi- er market than we've seen." Unemployment bene- fits spiked last week to the highest level in six weeks, mostly because companies let go of thousands of holiday hires, the government reported. Retail sales barely rose in December and officer at Harris Private Bank in Chicago. "As long as the stuff you can sink your teeth into, like corporate profit, is improving, I think it bodes well for the mar- kets this year." Among stocks mak- ing big moves: — Chevron fell 2.6 percent after the world's second-largest publicly traded oil company said its income will be "sig- nificantly" below its fourth-quarter results in the prior quarter because of narrower margins on refining and selling fuels. were lower than ana- lysts were expecting. Despite the mixed news on the economy, investors are starting to focus on the U.S. corpo- rate earnings season, which got under way this week with Alcoa Inc. The aluminum maker predicted stronger demand for its products this year and surprised the market with revenue that was higher than analysts were expecting. "There's a fair amount of pessimism out there but I also think that investors are slowly becoming immune to the bad news," said Jack Ablin, chief investment — CA Inc. jumped 4.3 percent. The hedge fund Taconic Capital disclosed in a regulatory filing that it has taken a 5.1 percent stake in the business software and technology company and is pressing CA to return more cash to shareholders and increase its profit mar- gins. — Casino operator Wynn Resorts Ltd. fell 2 percent. The company disclosed in a regulatory filing that its vice chair- man has filed a lawsuit against the company. Kazuo Okada claims that Wynn has refused to give him access to records relating to a $135 million donation the company made to the University of Macau and other matters. CUSTOM DAILY EDITIONS published only in the Bull & Gelding Sale D NEWSAILY RED BLUFF TEHAMACOUNTY D NEWSAILY RED BLUFF TEHAMACOUNTY Wednesday, January 25 Thursday, January 26 Friday, January 27 & Saturday, January 28 redbluffdailynews.com/jobs Deadline for 5x Flights: Friday, January 20 at Noon Contact your Advertising Representative today (530) 527-2151 Fresh coverage 5 days Tuesday, January 24