Stocks were mixed Thursday, with the three main indexes managing slight gains in a volatile session in which investors considered weak U.S. home sales and mixed corporate news. Stocks surged Wednesday after comments from the second-ranking Federal Reserve (Fed) official suggested that the U.S. central bank will cut interest rates again at its next policy meeting. With concerns continuing about the damage from the mortgage- and credit-market crises, Wall Street is betting that the Fed will cut a key short-term interest rate by at least a quarter-point when it meets December 11. In economic news, October new-home sales were much weaker than expected, and the price of new homes fell from a month ago, the government said. Another report showed that October home foreclosure filings surged from a year ago. The U.S. economy grew at the strongest pace in four years during the third quarter, another government report said, but a separate report showed a surprisingly large rise in weekly jobless claims. Oil prices rebounded from two consecutive losing sessions following a Minnesota pipeline explosion. However, oil prices gave up most of the gains by the end of the session. Light sweet crude for January delivery rose 39 cents to settle at $91.01 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 22.28, or 0.2 percent, to 13,311.73. Shares of Exxon Mobil rose. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index was virtually unchanged, rising 0.70 to 1,469.72. The technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index rose 5.22, or 0.2 percent, to 2,668.13. The New York Stock Exchange composite index fell 17.47 to 9,773.58. The American Stock Exchange composite index fell 20.41 to 2,333.53. And the Russell 2000 index fell 3.98 to 766.06.
