Business news for Mon, 24 Dec 2007 & with words eve+half-day. 2 news.

Stocks closed higher Monday afternoon at the end of a half-day of trading on the eve of a Christmas pause, as investors flocked to financial services firms after yet another Wall Street firm announced a big foreign cash investment.

U.S. stocks were set to open higher Monday, in what was expected to be a light half-day trading session on Christmas Eve.