Markets get a boost from retail data

U.S. stock markets found some resilience Tuesday with support coming from stronger than expected retail data from December. Retail sales rose 0.2 percent November to December. Economist had predicted a 0.1 percent gain. Excluding a decline in automobile sales put retail into a rosier position. With auto data excluded, retail rose 0.7 percent on the month. On Tuesday, the blue-chip Dow Jones industrial average added 115.92 points, 0.71 percent, to 16,373.86. The Standard & Poor's 500 gained 19.68 points, 1.08 percent, to close at 1,838.88. The Nasdaq added 69.71 points, 1.69 percent, to 4,183.02. On the New York Stock Exchange, 2,173 issues advanced and 918 declined on a volume of 3.3 billion shares traded. In Europe, London's FTSE 100 added 9.71 points, 0.14 percent, to reach 6,766.86. The 10-year U.S. treasury was yielding 2.874 percent, off 12/32. The euro traded lower at $1.3679 and the dollar was higher against the yen at 104.22 yen. Gold dropped $6.70 to hit $1,244.50 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Silver lost 14 cents to reach $20.25. Crude oil was up 66 cents in late trading at $92.46 per barrel. On the Chicago Board of Trade, March corn shed 2.5 cents to $4.32 per bushel. Soybeans gained 11.75 cents to $13.06. Wheat gained 5.5 cents to $5.79.