NEW YORK — Wall Street finished moderately higher in fitful trading Thursday as investors, still nervous about the economy, decided to buy back into a stock market pummeled by three straight days of losses.
With the market having largely priced in the possibility of a recession, many believe there are plenty of valuable stocks at cheap prices. Before Thursday, the Dow Jones industrial average had fallen this week by 543 points, or 4.26 percent, giving up all of last week’s sharp gains.
Though the market ended up rising Thursday, trading was fickle because of a batch of gloomy data that included declining January sales at major retailers, a drop in December sales of pending homes and a disappointing outlook from Internet networking supplier Cisco Systems Inc. The major indexes seesawed throughout the day.
“We’re kind of trying to create a silk purse out of a sow’s ear here,” said Hugh Johnson, chief investment officer of Johnson Illington Advisors. “The earnings are lousy; the economic numbers are lousy.”
The Dow rose 46.90, or 0.38 percent, to 12,247.00 after trading down about 80 points and up about 130. The index remains more than 13 percent below its record close Oct. 9 of 14,164.53.
Broader stock indicators also recovered some ground. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 10.46, or 0.79 percent, to 1,336.91. The technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index rose 14.28, or 0.63 percent, to 2,293.03.
Investors may have been encouraged to buy back into stocks because of a rise in the dollar, whose decline over the past several months has contributed to worries about inflation and a possible drop in foreign interest in U.S. investments.
