A sudden strong rally at Wall Street surprises everyone

Citigroup earns a profit in the first two months of 2009

In the US market on Tuesday, 10 March, 2009, stocks witnessed a huge one day rally. Though there was no single strong catalyst to fuel this rally, bits and pieces of news in the financial sector is believed to be the main reason for today's rally. But investors seriously doubt whether this rally is just a one day surprise. Among major news at Wall Street today, Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit said today that the company has earned a profit in the first two months of 2009. The action has induced broad-based gains as all 10 sectors climbed substantially higher. Other than these, came a few earning guidance reaffirmations.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended higher 379 points at 6,926, the Nasdaq closed higher by 90 points at 1,358 and the S&P 500 closed higher by 43 points at 719.

All ten sectors ended in the green led by financials and material sectors. JP Morgan Chase, Chevron, 3M and Caterpillar were the main Dow winners.

At Wall Street on Tuesday, Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit said today that the company has earned a profit in the first two months of 2009. This news cheered investors who got the chance to hear something good about banks after quite a long time.

Earlier in the morning, Fed Chairman Bernanke spoke about financial reforms. Stocks showed little reaction to his comments, which were largely in-line with observations to ensure that future crises will be handled adeptly.

In the telecom sector too, there was some good news. AT&T said it expects to invest around $17 billion to $18 billion in 2009, which is in-line with its 2007 capital expenditures of $17.7 billion.

Among economic report due for the day, monthly wholesale inventories fell 0.7% in January. Market expected a decline of 1.0% in January. The prior reading was revised modestly lower to reflect a 1.5% decline.

In the earnings arena, Whirlpool reaffirmed its 2009 outlook. United Technologies issued adjusted earnings estimates for fiscal 2009 that fall short of the consensus estimate. Texas Instruments narrowed its outlook, which remains in-line with the current consensus estimate. Kroger issued upside guidance for 2009. The outlook complements the company's better-than-expected fourth quarter earnings results.

Crude prices rose initially today but ultimately ended with losses on Tuesday, 10 March, 2009. Prices rose today as traders continued to mull over further announcements of output cuts by OPEC this month. But then prices fell on demand concerns. On Tuesday, crude-oil futures for light sweet crude for April delivery closed at $45.71/barrel (lower by $1.36 or 2.9%) on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Last week, crude ended higher by 1.7%. For the month of February, crude prices had ended higher by 1.5%.

EIA reported today that oil will average $42 a barrel this year and $53 next year. A month ago the EIA had said that it expected prices to average $43 and $55, respectively. Also, world oil consumption is projected to decline by 1.4 million barrels a day in 2009. That's roughly 200,000 barrels a day more than the EIA had projected a month ago.

Tomorrow the main important economic reports expected are the Treasury Budget report and the weekly inventory report on crude.