Bargain hunters lifted the markets to a sharply higher close as the holiday shopping season began. The Dow jumped 181 points to 12,981 while Nasdaq soared 34 points to 2597.

On the upside

Earlier this week, Bidz.com (Nasdaq: BIDZ) gave COO Claudia Liu exercised options for 55,000 common shares.

Susquehanna Financial initiated coverage of eTelecare Global Solutions (Nasdaq: ETEL) with a positive rating.

Scottish Re Group (NYSE: SCT) named Samir Shah to the position of executive vice president and chief risk officer effective December 26, 2007.

On the downside

EVCI Career Colleges (Nasdaq: EVCI) narrowed third quarter losses but reported lower enrollment at its Interboro Institute.

Redwood Trust (NYSE: RWT) president and co-founder Doug Hansen will retire at the end of the year.

Nu Horizons Electronics (Nasdaq: NUHC) filed amended earnings reports for fiscal 2007 as well as amended reports for the first quarter of 2008.

In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of nearly 5 to 1 on the NYSE and by more than 7 to 2 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks climbed 15 points to 755.