US Markets gain

Financial sector leads market to strong gains after a long time

Stocks at Wall Street made a sudden comeback on Tuesday, 24 February. Couple of strong earning reports from retailers and news percolating that Microsoft might still be interested in a deal with Yahoo gave US stocks a much needed strong boost today. Also, Fed chairman Bernanke testified before the Senate today in his semiannual testimony. The main leadership came from the financial sector, nevertheless. With today's gain, market snapped its six continuous days of losing streak.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended higher by 236 points at 7,350, the Nasdaq closed higher by 54 points at 1,441 and the S&P 500 closed higher by 30 points at 773. Market started the day on a strong note and with time gains just accelerated.

Twenty-nine of thirty Dow components ended in the green. Microsoft is the sole exception. Al ten sectors ended in the green.

The financial sector lent good support to the market today after JP Morgan reportedly said that its business is going strong in the current quarter.

Stocks actually began the session in positive territory as investors reacted positively to couple of good earning reports from retailers. Macy's announced this morning better-than-expected earnings per share results for the latest quarter. Nordstrom experienced a drop in margins as a result of competitive pricing pressure during the latest quarter, but the company still posted positive earnings per share surprise for the latest quarter.

Home improvement retailer Home Depot's results topped Wall Street's consensus estimate for latest quarter. Home Depot did indicate that it expects slower sales and earnings to continue into 2009, though. Target was the only one to miss earning expectation.

Fed Chairman Bernanke continued with his semiannual testimony in front of the Senate Banking Committee. The testimony continues to dominate financial news coverage.

Bernanke noted in his remarks that measures taken by the Federal Reserve, other U.S. government entities, and foreign governments have helped restore a degree of stability to some financial markets. However, he noted that first banks have to be stabilized and then only overall development despite a range of lower borrowing costs, significant stresses persist in many markets.

Oil prices shot up on Tuesday, 24 February, 2009. Prices rose after OPEC spoke about another production cut in coming months. Prices also rose today in synchronization with the rise in stocks at Wall Street. On Tuesday, crude-oil futures for light sweet crude for April delivery closed at $39.96/barrel (higher by $1.52 or 4%) on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Last week, crude ended higher by 3.8%.

Tomorrow is also light on earnings and economic data. The only major economic release tomorrow is the existing home sales report for January. Othan that, Fed Chairman Bernanke will continue to provide his semiannual monetary policy report to the Senate Banking Committee.