Dow posts strong gains Wednesday

NEW YORK, Feb. 13 (UPI) -- U.S. markets rallied Wednesday, boosted by encouraging retail sales figures for the month of January.

Investors reacted positively to a report that sales for the month grew 0.3 percent, indicating that consumers were still spending after the holidays and into a year of ongoing recession worries.

The Dow Jones industrial average responded with a strong gain of 170.14 points on the day, up 1.3 percent to 12,543.55 points.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index chalked up a 17.82 point gain to 1,366.68, up 1.32 percent.

The Nasdaq composite index jumped to 2,373.93 points, up 53.89 points, a 2.32 percent markup.

On the New York Stock Exchange 1,945 stocks advanced and 1,161 declined on a volume of 3.649 billion shares traded.

The 10-year note slipped 3/32 Wednesday to yield 3.673 percent.

The dollar held up against foreign currencies. The euro traded at $1.4583, compared with $1.4585 Tuesday, while the dollar traded at 108.12 yen, up from 107.27 yen Tuesday.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei average also climbed Wednesday, up 46.34 points to 13,068.30, a gain of 0.35 percent, while the FTSE 100 index in London dropped 29.90 points to 5,880.10, down 0.51 percent.