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Stocks are opening lower on Wall Street, deflated by signs that the global economic meltdown is being felt across Asia... China reported sharply lower growth in its exports. The so-called fiscal cliff, when U.S. government spending cuts and higher taxes kick in on Jan. 1, looms larger now that the distraction of earnings season is over.

Stocks edged slightly higher on Thursday, up for a fifth session, on better-than-expected jobless claims and trade data in the United States and hopes of further stimulus action from China's central bank.

Faced with Facebook, Starbucks and Angela Merkel, the market chose to focus on Merkel. For a second day, the U.S. stock market powered higher after European leaders, including German chancellor Merkel, pledged to protect the union of 17 countries that use the euro. The Dow Jones industrial average blew past 13,000, a key psychological marker that it hadn't hit since early May.

Wall Street took a drubbing Wednesday as investors worried that the Federal Reserve might not be willing to pump more money into the U.S. economy.

Stocks suffered their biggest losses in three months Tuesday, the first hiccup in a strong and steady rally to start the year. Wall Street worried about the global economy and waited while Greece pressured the last investors to sign on for its bailout.

U.S. stocks moved higher in a choppy session Tuesday, with the Dow Jones industrial average moving above 13,000 for the first time since May 2008. The 13,000 level doesn’t hold a great deal of significance to market analysts, but “it’s nice to see a symbolic number,” Art Cashin, UBS director of floor operations, told CNBC. The Dow last moved above 13,000 on an intra-day basis on May 20, 2008. It last closed above that level on May 19, 2008.

U.S. stocks rose on Friday, propelling the Nasdaq index to an 11-year high, after January's U.S. employment report sailed past expectations, boosting hopes for world's largest economy.

Stocks rose sharply on the first trading day of 2012 as upbeat U.S. economic data overshadowed continuing concerns about the European debt crisis.

The Dow Jones industrial average closed up 339 points Thursday after European leaders unveiled a financial rescue plan and the data showed the U.S. economy growing at a faster clip in the third quarter than earlier in the year.

Stocks began the final quarter of 2011 on Monday the same way they ended the last one, falling amid pessimism over Europe's efforts to contain its sovereign debt problems and fears that a wider economic slowdown ...