A new-year rally in commodity prices stuttered on Thursday, after Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke gave his most downbeat assessment to date of the U.S. economy.
In futures trading, crude oil for February delivery fell $1.96 a barrel, to $93.71. The contract topped $100 last week.
Gold prices continued to advance. Gold futures for February delivery added $11.90 an ounce, to $893.60. But industrial metals prices, including copper, aluminum and nickel, slipped. Grains and soybean prices eased.
Energy-related stocks were one of two losing sectors, along with utilities, among the 10 major sectors in the Standard & Poor’s 500 index. The index rose 11.20 points, to 1420.33. The Dow Jones industrial average added 117.78, to 12,853.09. The Nasdaq composite index increased 13.97, to 2488.52. The Russell 2000 small-company index gained 8.09, to 720.21.
Among stocks in the news, shares of Naperville-based telecommunications equipment-maker Tellabs jumped 64 cents, or 12 percent, to $5.84. Verizon Communications, a major Tellabs customer, said the slower economy was not hurting sales or its fiber-optics network upgrade.
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Shares of retailers mostly fell on disappointing December sales reports. But Wal-Mart Stores added $1.50, or 3 percent, to $48.40, after the company said December sales topped Wall Street predictions.
New York Stock Exchange trading volume continued to swell, reaching 2.06 billion shares, up from 2.05 billion shares Wednesday. Winning stocks outnumbered losers by a 2-1 ratio.
Nasdaq trading volume slipped to 2.60 billion shares from 2.83 billion shares Wednesday. Nasdaq winners topped losers by a 3-2 edge.
The Treasury’s auction of $8 billion of 10-year Treasury inflation-protected securities (TIPS) brought a yield of 1.65 percent, down sharply from 2.36 percent at the previous 10-year TIPS auction in October. TIPS were one of the better-performing 2007 investments.
The dollar closed little changed against major currencies, despite strong indications of lower U.S. interest rates. Central bankers in England and Europe left their short-term interest rate targets unchanged, though the European Central Bank signaled that higher rates would be needed to fight inflation.