Stocks turn positive despite Middle East crisis

Feb. 17, 2011 - PRLog -- The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 35 points to 12,323 by a little after 2 p.m., and the Nasdaq was up nearly 10 points to 2,835 as the S&P 500 was up nearly 5 points to 1,341.

Financial stocks experienced declines during the first part of the day as the Bureau of Labor Statistics released its January Consumer Price Index. The monthly report indicated consumers experienced a 0.4 percent increase in prices in January, an increased driven largely by increases in the price of energy commodities and food prices.

The recent price reports only fueled the uncertainty in the stock market created by protests in Libya, Iran, Yemen and Bahrain.

Stocks falling early Thursday were Huntington Bancshares , down 3.45 percent; Fifth Third Bancorp , down 1.76 percent; KeyCorp , down 1.37 percent; and PNC Financial Services Group , down 1.02 percent.

Other area financial stocks that fell less than 1 percent were: First Financial Bancorp (NasdaqGS: FFBC); U.S. Bancorp ; Park National Corp. ; WesBanco Inc. ; MainSource Financial Group Inc. ; and JPMorgan Chase & Co. .

Stocks that were up in mid-day trading were AK Steel Holding , General Electric , Teradata Corp. , Robbins & Myers , Procter & Gamble  and AT&T Inc. .

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