Best January for Dow, S&P since '97
Photo credit: AP | Specialists Mark Otto, left, and Christopher Malloy work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Markets clawed back lost ground Tuesday, on hopes that Greece is heading toward a conclusion of debt-reduction talks. (Jan. 30, 2012)
It's the best start for stocks in 15 years.
In what was mostly a slow and steady climb, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 3.4 percent in January, and the Standard & Poor's 500 gained 4.4 percent, the best performances for both indexes to open a year since 1997.
Investors were encouraged by modest but welcome improvement in the U.S. economy, including an 8.5 percent unemployment rate,...
