Stocks Open '09 With Rally

A last-minute surge in holiday shopping spurred by "massive unprecedented discounting," while a relief for store owners, wasn't enough, according to Jonathan de Mello, director of retail consultancy at Experian.

"Britain is still a nation of shopkeepers, and the retail sector is one of the U.K.'s largest employers," said de Mello. "It is not just people directly employed by retailers that will suffer from the fallout this Christmas, it is also their suppliers, manufacturers and service providers. We are all going to feel the effects as there is no doubt that the impact on retail will resonate through the entire economy."

In the U.S., the S&P Retail index gained 4.2% to 291. The ICSC-UBS weekly chain store sales snapshot and the Johnson Redbook retail sales index for the week ending tomorrow will offer more data on U.S. retailers early next week.

Meanwhile, exports from South Korea declined 17.4% to $27.29 billion in December, while imports dropped 21.5% to $26.62 billion, according to the government. Economists expected lesser declines for both imports and exports from Asia's fourth-largest economy, CNBC reported. The economy ministry expects a meager 1% growth in exports and a 4.7% decline in imports in 2009.

Economic hardships also continued to plague various domestic industries in the latter days of 2008. According to a report by the Semiconductor Industry Association, semiconductor sales plunged nearly 10% in November from a year prior, affected by a steep decline in revenue from memory chips.

Nonetheless, chipmaker Texas Instrument(TXN Quote) added 3.4% to $16.04, National Semiconductor(NSM Quote) climbed 7.5% to $10.82, and Intel(INTC Quote) traded up 3.7% to $15.20.