Thursday

Stocks extended December's strong start as better-than-expected retail and home sales painted a brighter picture of the U.S. economy. Pressure on the euro eased on talk that the European Central Bank was actively buying more bonds of some of the bloc's more financially stressed governments. Boosting sentiment for the holiday shopping season, retail sales rose 6% in November, much better than the expected growth of 3.6%. Other encouraging news came from the National Association of Realtors' pending home-sales index, which unexpectedly jumped 10.4%. DJIA +106.63 Nasdaq +29.92 S&P 500 +15.46.