Stocks finish strongly in first session of 2011

The Dow fell a bit from its high earlier in the day, but still finished up 93 points, to 11,670. The first trading day of the year always spurs chatter about the so-called January effect, which holds that if stocks close on the upside after the first five trading sessions, the entire year will be positive. It works roughly three out of four times, though such macro patterns are no more reliable than September predictions on whether it will be a wet or dry winter. In case you forgot, they had been calling for a dry year.