rally

Stocks kicked off 2012 with a sharp rally on Tuesday after data showed U.S. manufacturing activity and construction spending picked up, signaling the recovery was gaining steam.

Get ready. The last trading week of the year will be a test for stocks to prove whether they have the strength to carry a rally into next year.

After trading flat or lower most of the day, stocks took off in the last 90 minutes of trading Wednesday to end the day with mostly modest gains.

A woman holds a placard during a rally as the climate conference takes place in Durban, South Africa, on Dec.

Stock indexes gave back some of their gains and the euro turned lower against the dollar following a report that Germany and five other major European nations could risk having their credit ratings downgraded.

The stock market rested Thursday after staging its biggest rally in two-and-a-half years the day before. Major indexes ended trading mixed.

Wall Street is stuck in a highly volatile range as investors hoping for a rally into the end of the year are browbeaten by Europe's unfolding crisis.

Nov. 3 -- Bloomberg's Deborah Kostroun reports on the performance of the U.S. equity market today.

Stocks were mixed in late morning trading Friday as traders scrutinized a plan to contain Europe's debt crisis that sent the market soaring 3 percent a day earlier.

Stocks are falling after a strong rally that left the Standard & Poor's 500 index on track for its best month since 1974.