A MILESTONE, BRIEFLY: The Dow finally edged over the 13,000 mark, a milestone it hadn't reached since May 2008, three times in intraday trading. But stocks started falling at mid-afternoon and gave up some of their gains. The Dow closed at 12,965.69, up 15.82 points.
BOOKS CLUBBED: Barnes & Noble fell 4 percent after it missed analysts' expectations for revenue and per-share earnings for the fiscal third quarter. The company, one of the last major bookstores standing after the collapse of rival Borders last year, said it will introduce a cheaper Nook to compete with Amazon's Kindle Fire and is shifting more of its store inventory to gifts and games.
THE WOES OF WAL-MART: Wal-Mart fell 4 percent after missing analysts' expectations for revenue and per-share earnings in the fourth quarter. The world's biggest retailer has made strategic errors in the past couple of years that have cost it some of its mojo, like briefly turning away from its "everyday low prices" game plan.
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