Stocks rose as Republican House Speaker John Boehner expressed optimism about reaching a budget deal with President Barack Obama. Existing-home sales rose 5.9% in November to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.04 million, reaching the highest rate since November 2009. Weekly jobless claims rose 17,000 to 361,000 and Q3 GDP growth was revised up to 3.1%. Research In Motion edged 3.6% higher ahead of the handset-maker’s quarterly report, while Eloqua soared 32% after Oracle announced that it was buying the co. for $871 million. Amazon.com gained 1.36% as the co. said its film production arm, Amazon Studios, was going to produce six comedy series pilots, underscoring the company’s aggressive bid to produce original content for its growing e-commerce site. In the evening trade Research In Motion sank 9.6% , with the sharp reversal coming on concerns about the BlackBerry maker’s service business.
