Stocks barely budged Wednesday, and investors held on to their gains from a strong opening to the year. It wasn’t much, but after the lurching, up-and-down weeks of 2011, investors were grateful for the winning streak.

Strong December sales helped the stocks of automakers and specialty stores. Banks, health care companies, and utilities fell slightly. Netflix surged after its first good news in months.

But nothing else moved much. The Dow Jones industrial average edged up 21.04 points, or 0.2 percent, to close at 12,418.42. The Dow opened the year with a 180-point gain Tuesday, which brought it to the highest level since July.

“At least thus far in 2012 we haven’t followed the path of 2011, where if it’s a good day, there’s a bad day right away,” said Ryan Detrick, senior technical analyst with Schaeffer’s Investment Research.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index and Nasdaq also had big gains Tuesday but only moved a fraction of a point a day later. The S&P inched up 0.24 to close at 1,277.30. The Nasdaq fell 0.36 to 2,648.36.

“It’s healthy to see that after a big rally,” said Randy Warren, chief investment officer for Warren Financial Service. “People need to sit back and think about it.”

Retailing industry stocks rose 0.8 percent as a group after post-Christmas sales came in 5.3 percent better than a year ago. Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. rose 1.8 percent, and Ross Stores Inc., which sells discounted clothes, rose 0.7 percent.

Big-box stores fell, though. Analysts have been concerned that some stores raised holiday sales with deep discounts that will hurt profits. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. fell 1.1 percent, making it the second-biggest decliner among the Dow’s 30 stocks. Target Corp. fell 2.2 percent and Kohl’s Corp. fell 1.4 percent.

Automakers delivered a strong end to 2011, helped carmaker stocks. Analysts had been expecting December to be a strong sales month for cars on the theory that more confidence in the economy would unlock pent-up demand. Ford Motor Co. rose 1.5 percent and General Motors Co. rose 0.5 percent after those two companies and Chrysler reported strong increases in December and full-year sales.

Visa Inc. fell 1.8 percent and MasterCard Inc. fell 3.3 percent. Janney analysts downgraded both to “neutral” from “buy” and predicted that Americans will keep cutting their personal debt.

The biggest winner in the S&P 500 was Netflix Inc., up 11.4 percent. The company, which delivers movies and TV shows online and by mail, said customers had streamed more than 2 billion hours of video in the fourth quarter.

The yield on 10-year Treasury notes briefly popped above 2 percent, then fell to to 1.98 percent in the afternoon. Yields have been falling over the past year as investors have loaded up on low-risk investments. A rise in yields suggests that investors are more willing to take risks by parking money elsewhere in exchange for higher rewards.

The price of gold rose $12.20 to $1,612.70 per ounce. Oil rose 26 cents to $103.20.

European markets declined, and the euro fell back below $1.30, to $1.2945, within a penny of its lowest level in a year. Another increase in Italy’s borrowing costs renewed worries about Europe’s efforts to restore confidence in its debt-hobbled governments.

In other corporate news:

• Acme Packet Inc., which makes phone equipment, plunged 19 percent after saying its quarterly profit and revenue would be well below analyst expectations.

• Yahoo Inc. fell 3.1 percent after the company named Scott Thompson, president of eBay Inc.’s PayPal division, as CEO — its fourth in five years. Yahoo has been without a permanent CEO since firing Carol Bartz in September. EBay fell 3.8 percent.

• Fallen photography pioneer Eastman Kodak Co. fell 18 cents to 47 cents after The Wall Street Journal, quoting people familiar with the matter, reported it is preparing a bankruptcy filing in case its efforts to sell some of its patents fail. On Tuesday, Kodak said its stock could be removed from the New York Stock Exchange if it doesn’t rise above $1 in the next six months.

With the Dow Jones Industrial Average down about 16 percent in two months, investment analysts are worrying aloud about the risk of a new recession, or even a full-blown financial crisis.

But there are big differences between now and 2008.

The most basic one is this: Back then, investor uncertainties revolved around the health of private-sector banks and a breakdown in private channels of credit to the economy. Today, the uncertainties are largely about politics – whether governments in Europe and the US are able to act in ways that restore private-sector confidence.

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After taking a 4 percent dive on Thursday, US stock prices were relatively flat in Friday trading. But the Dow index is still down about 7 percent for the week, and stock markets in Europe have fallen even more.

Many economic experts say recession can be avoided. And the worry about a possible downturn is fueled partly by concerns about consumer activity that are distinct from the political debates in Congress or the German Bundestag. But a recent flareup of political dysfunction on both sides of the Atlantic has had clear ripple effects on the confidence of consumers and businesses.

Confidence 'eroded daily'In the US, for instance, a Gallup poll index of economic confidence tumbled in July as Congress and the White House were wrangling over the terms of a bill to raise the nation's debt ceiling.

"The world is in a danger zone," World Bank president Robert Zoellick said Thursday, at the opening of the bank's annual meeting in Washington. "In 2008, many people said they did not see the turbulence coming. Leaders have no such excuse now. And dangerous times call for courageous people."

He said he still believes a recession in major economies is unlikely, but that "my confidence in that belief is being eroded daily by the steady drip of difficult economic news."

If political gridlock persists, damage to the wider economy could grow worse.

In Europe, doubts center on the ability of euro zone nations to stave off a sovereign debt crisis. Private sector banks would face steep losses if high-debt nations like Greece and Portugal can't pay their loans in full.

The US government doesn't face such intense fiscal pressures. And American politics aren't complicated by Europe's problem, the need for multiple nations to agree on plans for bailouts and austerity. But in the US, as the Gallup indicator suggests, the rifts between Democrats and Republicans can affect overall confidence.

Prospects for new legislation to boost job creation, for example, are clouded by the partisan divide. More ominously, the chaos of a so-called government shutdown is possible starting barely a week from now, if the two sides can't come to a funding agreement as a new fiscal year begins.

Ideological differences over what to do are part of the problem, as is election-oriented maneuvering. President Obama has blasted Republican House Speaker John Boehner (R) of Ohio for taking a "my way or the highway" position opposing tax hikes. But the president has recently laid down his own ultimatum, saying he'll veto any deficit bill that cuts Medicare without raising taxes on high-income Americans.

"Europe, Japan, and the United States must act to address their big economic problems," Mr. Zoellick urged in his public remarks. "I know well that … means honest and difficult discussions with parliaments and publics. [But] delay will narrow choices and make them harder and more costly."

Growth in advanced economies have lagged behind forecasters' expectations this year. A range of factors can help explain the economy's recent rough patch – from the impact of high oil prices early this year to the spillover effects of Japan's earthquake and tsunami. But many economists say the political challenges in Europe are an important added headwind.

Lingering effects of 2008Back in 2008 and 2009, the US government moved aggressively in efforts to quell a financial crisis, which was spawned by the large mortgage-related losses at commercial banks and investment firms.

But that resulted in a big jump in the federal government's own debt. That's a pattern typically seen in such crises, as governments experience falling tax revenues even as they ramp up spending on bank bailouts, stimulus efforts, and covering recession-related costs like unemployment insurance.

With this pattern visible in the US and other nations, governments are running close to constraints on their ability to run deficits in efforts to stimulate economic growth.

Meanwhile, private sector banks still have their own troubles.

The credit-rating firm Moody's lowered its grade on Greek banks Friday. And earlier this week, Moody's downgraded several large US banks, saying they would be less likely to get government assistance in a new crisis.

All this doesn't mean that government policy failures will hang like a millstone on the economy in the months ahead. Some economists note that the downdrafts in financial markets themselves could prod nations to deal more forcefully with their challenges.

But for now, at least, concerns about the public sector are running high among investors, consumers, and employers alike.

“With the current, anemic economic conditions, the unemployment rate will remain consistently high and tax receipts will remain low unless the focus shifts to long-term policies and economic growth,” Business Roundtable president John Engler said in a statement Monday.

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