Wall Street Drifts Downward

Those numbers helped boosted the major averages, which finished out another volatile week with gains.

The Dow rose 142.99 points, or 1.08%, to 13,378.87, aided by a strong upswing in the last hour of trading. The S&P 500 added 16.87 points, or 1.15%, to 1479.37, and the Nasdaq jumped 34.99 points, or 1.38%, to 2576.69.

Volume was sluggish to begin the new week. On the New York Stock Exchange, 2.39 billion shares changed hands Monday, as decliners topped advancers by a 2-to-1 margin. Volume on the Nasdaq reached 1.32 billion shares, with losers outpacing winners nearly 2 to 1.

Volume may continue to be light as the pre-holiday week progresses, though traders will have a torrent of economic data to digest. Minutes from the Federal Reserve's policy meeting on Aug. 7 are due Tuesday, and reports on second-quarter gross domestic product and personal income and spending, among others, are expected later in the week.

"The economic calendar is full this week and there's certainly a lot of data to focus on," said Robert Pavlik, chief investment officer with Oaktree Asset Management. "It's hard to tell, though, if there will be enough participants around this week to make anything exciting happen. This whole summer has been pretty surprising, in that there has been more activity than anyone expected."

Paul Nolte, director of investments with Hinsdale Associates, said that the unexpected increases in new home sales and durable goods orders to round out last week were "an indication that just maybe the economy remains on sounder footing than many believe and the fallout from subprime lending is relatively contained.

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