Low volume rally on Wall Street sets tone for next year

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks rose on Thursday, resuming their upward move into year-end, as positive data on the U.S. economy offset concerns about the euro zone. But the S&P 500 continued to churn around its 200-day moving average, although the index was back in positive territory for 2011 ahead of the last trading day of the year. Scant volume increased the market's volatility. "The low-volume rally is likely to continue to tomorrow, sort of setting the stage of the first quarter of next year," said Uri Landesman, president of Platinum Partners in New York. ...