Stocks turn higher to extend month's big gains

NEW YORK -- Investors shook off some their worries about Dubai's financial problems and extended the stock market's big November gain.

Reports that Dubai is working to restructure its debt gave stocks a lift in the final hour of trading Monday. Meanwhile, retailers fell after Thanksgiving weekend sales met expectations but failed to reassure investors who are questioning whether consumers will spend enough to boost the economy.

Stocks were turning in their best monthly performance since July. The major stock indexes are up more than 5 percent.

Investors, satisfied for the moment that credit problems in the Middle Eastern city-state of Dubai weren't a sign of spreading troubles, turned their attention to consumers, whose spending is the biggest driver of the U.S. economy. Preliminary figures by ShopperTrak, a research firm that tracks more than 50,000 outlets, showed that sales rose 0.5 percent on Friday, the start to the holiday shopping season. Online sales jumped 11 percent Thursday and Friday, according to comScore, an Internet research firm.

Investors have been worried that rising unemployment would make shoppers uncomfortable about spending during the holidays. Traders are already looking to the government's November unemployment report, which is due Friday.

The National Retail Federation, a trade group, said Sunday it still expects holiday sales to slip 1 percent compared with last year.

Benny Lorenzo, CEO of the investment bank Kaufman Bros. in New York, said the retail numbers might not look as impressive because there were so many markdowns and clearance sales last year. He said investors are cautious about the results but pointed to Internet retailers as one area of strength.

"Certainly in a market like this it could've been a lot worse for sure," he said. "The online vendors, they seem to have done pretty well."

In late afternoon trading, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 32.58, or 0.3 percent, to 10,342.50. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 3.60, or 0.3 percent, to 1,095.09, and the Nasdaq composite index rose 4.49, or 0.2 percent, to 2,142.93.

Advancing stocks outpaced those that fell on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to a light 718.5 million shares.

Bond prices were mixed. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, fell to 3.20 percent from 3.21 percent late Friday. The yield on the three-month T-bill, considered one of the safest investments, rose to 0.06 percent from 0.01 percent.

The dollar fell against other major currencies, while gold rose.