Stocks snap losing streak

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Stocks opened higher Tuesday, snapping out of recent sluggishness, driven by upbeat earnings and an extra boost by the European Central Bank.

The Dow was up 68 points shortly after the open, or 0.5 percent. The S&P 500 was slightly higher.

Goldman Sachs (GS, Fortune 500) reported net revenue of $10.74 billion, net earnings of $3.22 billion, and a net earnings per share of $7.01 for the fourth quarter. The bank has fared much better than its rivals in the face of the mortgage crisis.

Best Buy (BBY, Fortune 500) posted net income of $228 million, or 53 cents a share in the quarter, which included Black Friday, or the day after Thanksgiving which marks the start of the holiday shopping season. That compares to net income of $150 million, or 31 cents a year earlier and was well ahead of estimates.

More negatively, new-home construction slowed in November.

Late on Monday the European Central Bank said it would allow its member banks to tap unlimited amounts of funds at a fixed rate for a two-week period. The move came on the same day that the Fed began a series of auctions aimed at getting banks to boost their lending to businesses and consumers.

Starting Tuesday, the Bank of England will auction off $23 billion to lenders as part of the joint effort to alleviate the ongoing credit crisis.

The Fed is also due to unveil later on Tuesday a plan that would give borrowers of home loans new protections against shady lending practices. Loose lending practices have been partly blamed for the current subprime mortgage crisis.

Late Thursday, software maker Adobe Systems (ADBE) posted better-than-expected results and said it planned to expand upon a previously announced buyback plan, buying an additional 30 million shares.

In other corporate news, Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500) has been in talks with two leading wireless carriers in Japan as it continues its global rollout of its wildly popular iPhone, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.

In global trade, Asian stock markets finished the session mixed, and European stocks gained in midday trade.

The dollar was narrowly higher against the euro and gained against the yen.

Oil prices ended its recent slide. Light, sweet crude for January delivery gained $1.09 to $91.72 a barrel in electronic trading.