Stocks up due to good retail report

Shares on Wall Street moved higher on Thursday on encouraging reports on November retail sales and hopes that Europe’s financial crisis would be contained, according to the New York Times.

The Dow Jones industrial average was up 99.56 points, or 0.88 percent. The Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index rose 12.49, or 1 percent, while the technology heavy Nasdaq gained 22.70, or 0.89 percent.