Dow Closes Above 13,000 on Black Friday

U.S. stocks rallied more than three percent during this week's holiday-shortened session, capped off by a 172 point rally on Black Friday which pushed the Dow over the closely-watched 13,000 level. The Dow, NASDAQ and S&P 500 are currently sitting at levels not seen since just after President Barack Obama was re-elected. Topics which were on traders' minds this week: a promising Black Friday, a shaky-at-best cease-fire between Israeli and Hamas forces, regulators circling Steven Cohen, fraud allegations from Hewlett-Packard

related to its purchase of Autonomy, and continued struggles to stamp out deals in the eurozone. Notable earnings for the week included Best Buy

, Tyson

, Salesforce.com

, Deere

, Lowe's

and Brocade

. Crude oil closed the week just over $88 and COMEX gold rose over the $1750 level.