market summary Close: It was another slow day, but yet another up day for the stock market...stocks opened mixed, and traded near unchanged all day, but ended with modest gains...there were few big sector moves, and only a few major stock moves...oil prices were up 52 cents ahead of OPEC meeting tomorrow, which hampered stocks a bit...August retail sales data was much as expected, with a dip in auto sales producing an overall 0.3% decline...excluding autos, sales were up a modest 0.2%, in line with soft, but decent, consumer spending trends...
a number of earnings warnings hit individual stocks such as Office Depot (ODP 15.12 -1.08) and A.O. Smith (AOS 23.40 -2.10) but didn't impact the broader market...on the plus side, McDonald's (MCD 27.63 +0.46) raised their dividend 38%...volume was very light again and volatility low...now, it is on to Oracle's earnings report due after the close...NYSE Adv/Dec 1609/1698, Nasdaq Adv/Dec 1421/1626
