MarketWrap for 12/22/09-Stocks gain on Home Sales data...

Stocks and the U.S. dollar rose while government bonds and the cost of insuring against corporate defaults declined on evidence economies around the world are improving.  The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 51 to close at 10,464.  The S&P 500 gained 4 points to close at 1,118 and the NASDAQ rallied 15 points to close at 2,252.  Both the Nasdaq Composite and the S&P 500 climbed to new 2009 closing highs.  Gold fell to a seven-week intraday low.  The gains came as used-home sales for November were particularly strong, having risen more than double the increase economists had expected. The report was a boon to stocks exposed to the housing sector, especially home builders, as strength in existing-home sales tends to come ahead of major improvements in new-home sales.    Equities in the world’s largest economy advanced even after the U.S. Commerce Department said gross domestic product expanded at a 2.2 percent rate in the third quarter, slower than the 2.8 percent pace originally reported by the government.