Stocks waver on Wall Street

Stocks on Wall Street finished mixed as investors digest a mixed bag of economic data ahead of the Christmas shut down.

Economic news included smaller-than-expected increases in new-home sales and consumer spending, although consumer sentiment and a key barometer of capital spending rose.

At the close (10am NZ time), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 114.00 points, or 0.1%, to 11,573.49 its highest close since September 2008. The measure reached a fresh two-year intraday high at 11575.99 on Wednesday.

Alcoa led the Dow's climb with a 1.3% rise. Chevron was also strong, up 0.9%, while Exxon Mobil added 0.6%, boosted by a climb in crude-oil futures to fresh two-year highs above $US91 a barrel.

Limiting the Dow's ascent, Bank of America fell 2.4%, erasing part of its 3.2% Wednesday jump. Walt Disney was also weak, off 0.7%, while Travelers slipped 0.7%.

Shares in the broader market failed to move into positive territory throughout the session. The Nasdaq Composite finished 0.2% lower at 2665.60 and the S&P 500 index slipped 0.2% to 1256.77, with financials leading to the downside in a small pullback from the sector's Wednesday rally.

Other markets: Europe up, Asia down
European stocks were flat to weaker in subdued pre-Christmas trade, putting a three-day winning streak for some indexes on the line.

The Stoxx Europe 600 index was fractionally higher at 281.48. London's FTSE 100 was fractionally higher at 5985.78. The DAX in Frankfurt was off 0.2% at 7057.57 and the CAC-40 in Paris was down 0.6% at 3897.04.

Asian markets ended mostly lower in lackluster trade. Merger-and-acquisition activity helped lift Australia's main stock index to a six-week high.

Korean stocks were little changed after closing at a three-year high in the previous session.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.4% to 4799.02, while Korea's Kospi Composite edged down 0.03% to 2037.53. China's Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.8% to 2855.22, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index reversed earlier gains, sliding 0.6% to 22,902.97 and India's Sensex was off 0.2% to 19,982.88.

Japanese markets were closed for a public holiday.

Commodities: Oil up, gold down
Oil futures hit fresh two-year highs on positive economic indicators at the end of a holiday-shortened week.

Light, sweet crude for February delivery settled $US1.03 higher at $US91.51 a barrel in New York, after earlier touching $US91.63, the highest since October 2008. Brent crude on the ICE futures exchange closed 62USc higher at $US94.27.

Gold futures finished the week lower. The most actively traded contract, for February delivery, settled $US6.90 down at $US1380.50 an ounce in New York.  Gold has declined 3% from record highs of $US1432.50 set on December 7.

Currencies: Franc down, dollar up
The Swiss franc fell against the euro and the dollar on flows in thin markets. Against the Swiss franc, the dollar was at 0.9614 francs from 0.9520 francs late on Wednesday.

The euro was at 1.2610 francs from 1.2470 francs. The US dollar gained ground against the euro but remained lower versus the Japanese yen.

Currencies stayed in tight ranges in quiet-pre-holiday trading, with the dollar heading toward a weekly gain that will add to its rise in 2010.

The euro slipped to $US1.3069, down from $US1.3094.

The euro has lost 0.9% this week and is headed toward an 8.8% decline for the year. In June, it fell under $US1.20 for the first time since 2006.

The dollar slipped to buy ¥83.10, down from ¥83.59. The dollar has fallen 1% against the yen this week and has depreciated nearly 11% in 2010.

In November, the dollar sunk to its weakest level against the Japanese currency since 1995, when the all-time low was set.