Wall Street shrugged off instability in Egypt to rally to a two-and-a-half year high Tuesday, boosted by encouraging economic data and better-than-expected corporate earnings.
Stocks closed modestly mixed on light volume Friday in the last full trading week of the year, which marked the third week in a row of overall gains. While drugmakers Pfizer and Merck put a damper on the Dow, robust earnings from Oracle and Research In Motion helped lift tech stocks.








