Market Dodges Bullets, but Weak Data Take Toll

Remember a few weeks back when no news, no matter how good, could give stocks a lift?

Early today, optimistic market participants were taking heart that stocks were able to side-step two potentially damaging events: Standard & Poor's putting four major Wall Street firms on CreditWatch with negative implications and a much weaker than expected Philadelphia Fed manufacturing survey.

But as the day progressed, the combination, particularly the Philly Fed report, did take a bite out of major averages' early gains. As of 2:10 p.m. EDT, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.2% to 8759.57 vs. its earlier best of 8854.21 -- a move that had bulls cheering the "breaking" of resistance at 8800. The S&P 500 was lately up 0.5% to 924.03 vs. its earlier high of 933.28 while the Nasdaq Composite was higher by 0.1% to 1336.28 but down from its earlier best of 1350.92. ...