DOW - Good day recovery and still stay above 12,000

Dow

12,107.74

+4.16

+0.03%

By: Jeff Cox

CNBC.com Senior Writer

Stocks clawed back much of the day's earlier losses, closing mixed to lower as a sharp drop in technology shares outweighed and otherwise positive day for the market.

Technology represented the only negative sector on the Standard & Poor's 500, but that was enough to drag the index to a modestly higher close. Utilities, consumer staples and energy performed best for the index. Big tech names also hurt the Dow industrials, and the Nasdaq lost about 1 percent for the day.

Markets initially reacted sharply positive in hopes the move would help forestall contagion effects from overwhelming debt in the nations known as the PIIGS — Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece and Spain.


But it soon became clear there would be plenty more work to be done.

"What we don’t know, and this is why market sentiment is withering so far on Wednesday, is whether or not the record amount of borrowing will end up in the real economy spurring job growth and consumer demand," said Andrew Wilkinson, chief economic strategist at Miller Tabak in New York. "The ECB’s action certainly created a high for the patient, but is no panacea especially for sovereign bonds."

Also in Europe, Franklin Templeton's Mark Mobius, considered a pioneer in emerging market investment, said he expects the sovereign debt crisis to be resolved by mid-year in 2012.

"The European crisis isn't as deep and terrible as people think," Mobius said, according to a Reuters report. "Nations there are in a process of negotiations and that takes time."

With trading activity winding down heading into Christmas weekend, volume was thin, with about 820 million shares changing hands on the New York Stock Exchange. Winners beat losers 1.5 to 1.