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Dow Hits New '09 High Ahead of Holiday - CNNMoney.com -- Stocks climbed Wednesday in a thinly-traded session ahead of Thanksgiving, as investors welcomed a bigger-than-expected drop in weekly jobless claims.
 
All financial markets are closed Thursday for the holiday, while Friday brings an abbreviated session for stocks. Some market pros will make a five-day weekend of the period.
 
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 31 points, or 0.3%, ending at a fresh 13-month high. The S&P 500 rose 5 points, or 0.5%, and also finished at a fresh 13-month high.
 
The Nasdaq composite rose 7 points, or 0.3%, closing short of a 13-month high.
 
Because of the holiday, all the week's news was jammed into the first three days, with nothing on the docket Friday. The combination of a three-day onslaught of economic news and some pre-holiday wariness was keeping investors from moving much on Wednesday.
 
Home Sales Surge - A combination of factors helped mortgage rates improve yet again during the short Thanksgiving week. Strong demand for the Treasury auctions, low inflation, and a fragile economy were all positive for mortgage markets. As a result, mortgage rates dropped to the lowest levels since January. 
 
The consensus economic outlook is for a gradual recovery with low inflation, and the economic data released during the week was consistent with this view. Economic growth during the third quarter of the year was revised lower, but both the Fed and private economists raised their forecasts for future growth. This week's economic reports indicated that some sectors of the economy are improving, such as the housing market (see below), while others reflected weakness. Wednesday's data on Core PCE prices continued to show little inflationary pressure, which allows the Fed to keep rates low to assist the economic recovery.