Another good day for stocks

The Dow finishes up 106 points, to close to 11,362. Today was another day of encouraging signals about the economy, with stronger-than-expected retail and home sales. Not that a stray indicator or two can usually move markets anymore, but the economic data has become more consistently positive. Keep in mind, however, that the U.S. employment report comes out tomorrow and even though the consensus forecast is good, there's no telling where the numbers will land.