U.S. stocks open mostly up as cliff talks continue to 13,356

[admin]

U.S. stocks open mostly up as cliff talks continue to 13,356.21
from MarketWatch.com - MarketPulse
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stocks opened with limited gains Wednesday as Wall Street held near two-month highs as President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner continued negotiations to avert steep spending cuts and tax increases in the new year. "We're starting to lead with an assumption of some type of deal being done since both sides erased their lines in the sand," said Art Hogan, market strategist at Lazard Capital Markets. Ahead of the open, the government reported construction on new homes fell 3% while building permits climbed 3.6% in November. "It's probably more important to look at permits and not the starts, as we have a Sandy effect here; permits are a forward-looking catalyst," said Hogan. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 5.25 points to 13,356.21. The S&P 500 added half a point to 1,447.22. The Nasdaq Composite gained 7.06 points to 3,061.58.