US stocks close higher in post-Christmas trade

US stocks closed higher in thin post-Christmas trading Friday after the US Federal Reserve threw a lifeline to the finance arm of ailing automaker General Motors.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 47.07 points (0.56 percent) to end the week at 8,515.55 as investors shrugged off another dismal US retail sales report Friday.
The tech-rich Nasdaq rose 5.34 points (0.35 percent) to 1,530.24, while the broad Standard & Poor's 500 index increased 4.65 points (0.54 percent) to 872.80.
Stocks climbed back toward early Friday highs at the closing bell in broad-based buying interest, although gains remained modest.
The market cheered the US Federal Reserve approval Wednesday of a request by GMAC, the automaker's troubled finance arm, to become a bank holding company, clearing the way for the firm to receive a share of government bailout funds and emergency loans.
"The shift to a bank may help ease the threat of default that threatened to dry up credit for GM dealers," Wachovia Securities chief market strategist Al Goldman said.
The GMAC move, announced only hours before Christmas Day, came after the US government approved a 13.4-billion-dollar rescue loan package last week for GM and Chrysler to stave off collapse amid tight credit and dismal sales.
GMAC faced possible bankruptcy, jeopardizing financing for GM car dealers and customers, and its demise could have dragged down the Detroit automaker's fortunes with it.
General Motors shares on Friday rose 12.62 percent to close at 3.66 dollars while those of Ford, another of the top US automakers, climbed 8.53 percent to 2.29 dollars.
A preliminary report early Friday that US retail sales dropped by up to eight percent for the traditional November-December shopping period was shrugged off by the market.
The report by the MasterCard Inc.'s SpendingPulse unit said the year end retail sales was one of the worst holiday shopping periods in decades, with the the apparel, and electronics and appliance categories the worst hit.
Although retail sales remained sluggish, Michael McNamara, vice president of research and analysis for SpendingPulse, said there were few signs of "relative strength."
Sectors that sold food, such as grocery and general merchandise stores and some sectors of the restaurant sector, helped keep total declines in the single digit range, according to the report.