Stocks Weather Oil Gusher

Investors found reasons to buy stocks Wednesday, despite rising oil prices and what looked like a dismal housing report.

Traders latched onto a tasty tidbit in Wednesday's Commerce Department data. The government released an upward revision to third-quarter gross domestic product numbers, showing that corporate profits rose 30.9% from the same period last year. You have to go back to 1987 to find such a large increase in profit growth for a single quarter.

The Commerce Department also revised down its reading of wage pressure and core inflation in the third quarter, calming inflation fears that had re-emerged when Fed Chief Ben Bernanke and other Fed speakers made hawkish comments Tuesday. ...