Business Update for 11/23/13

Business news for Saturday, November 23.

NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street is ecstatic. The stock market vaulted past another milestone yesterday, as the S&P 500 index closed above 1,800 for the first time. It's on track for its best performance in 15 years. The index rose nine points yesterday to 1,804. The Dow is also on a tear. It gained 55 points to 16,064. The Dow had its first close above 16,000 on Thursday. The Nasdaq rose 22 points.

UNDATED (AP) — J.C. Penney is getting booted from the S&P 500 index after losing more than half of its market value this year. S&P Dow Jones Indices says the Plano, Texas-based retailer is being replaced by Allegion Plc, a provider of security for homes and businesses. Penney's downward spiral began during an ill-fated transformation strategy under former CEO Ron Johnson.

NEW YORK (AP) — The price of oil is up $1 a barrel since a week ago. But it slipped a bit yesterday. Benchmark crude for January delivery fell 60 cents to close at $94.84 in New York. The week's increase was largely due to an improving U.S. jobs picture. Meanwhile, Triple-A says the average price of a gallon of gas rose 2 cents Friday to $3.24, still 10 cents cheaper than a month ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Energy Department says it'll lose $139 million on a loan to struggling electric car maker Fisker Automotive. It's the largest loss in the Obama administration's green energy loan program since the 2011 failure of solar panel maker Solyndra. The government sold the loan for $25 million to Hybrid Technology, a holding company that plans to keep Fisker operating.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Disney subsidiary Pixar is laying off up to 5 percent of its 1,200 employees after it pushed back the release of "The Good Dinosaur" to November 2015 from next May. That's according to a person familiar with the situation, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The Walt Disney Co. says Pixar is always re-evaluating its creative and business needs.