Market rises for 3rd straight day

[Volkswagon 0]

The market has risen for 3 straight days. Why aren't you exicted? When it falls, people cry with doom and gloom. When it rises, it is eerily silent here.

Link:http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3683270/

Stocks finish day up for third straight session

Shares rebound after GE rating cut was not as deep as market feared

NEW YORK - Wall Street extended its rally into a third day as investors took in stride a cut in General Electric Co.'s credit rating.

Standard & Poor's lowered GE's top rating one notch because of problems at the company's lending arm. However investors were relieved that S&P said it was not considering further credit downgrades for the blue-chip company, the oldest member of the Dow Jones industrials.

GE stock jumped more than 13 percent, helping drive the Dow back above the 7,000 mark.

"It's oddly encouraging" that GE maintained a stable rating after its downgrade, said Kim Caughey, equity research analyst at Fort Pitt Capital Group. S&P and other ratings services have been trying to act more aggressively following criticism over the past year for failing to identify risks in subprime mortgage investments, she noted.

Another big gainer in the Dow was General Motors Corp., which has been borrowing money from the government to stay in business. GM's chief financial officer said the company will not need the $2 billion loan for March it previously requested. GM rose nearly 13 percent.

The market rose modestly Wednesday after soaring on Tuesday in response to news that Citigroup Inc. was profitable in January and February. It was the market's first two-day advance in more than a month.

Bank stocks continued to climb Thursday — Citigroup rose 4.5 percent, Wells Fargo & Co. rose 3 percent, Bank of America Corp. rose 9.5 percent, and JPMorgan Chase & Co. rose 6.6 percent.

Despite those gains, investors are still anxiously awaiting details from Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner about a plan for dealing with the "toxic" loan-backed assets that are still sitting on banks' books. Geithner spoke at a Senate hearing Thursday but mainly about the federal budget.

Preliminary calculations showed the Dow Jones industrials ended trading up 239.66, or 3.46 percent, to 7,170.06.

Broader stock indicators also rose. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 29.38, or 4.07 percent, to 750.74, and the Nasdaq composite index rose 54.46, or 3.97 percent, to 1,426.10.

The economic news was mixed but investors focused on a better-than-expected report on retail sales.

Sales fell 0.1 percent in February, which was far less than less than the 0.5 percent slide economists had predicted. The government also revised January's performance to show a 1.8 percent increase, the biggest rise in three years and stronger than the 1 percent gain that was originally reported.

But there was some bad news about the economy kept coming on Thursday. First-time claims for unemployment benefits rose last week to 654,000 from 639,000 the week before, more than analysts had expected.

Investors are also aware that much of this week's rebound can be attributed to technical factors.

The selloff that hurled the stock market to 12-year lows last week was driven largely by short-selling, when a trader bets on a stock falling by selling borrowed shares. Traders have now been covering those short bets by buying stocks, after the Securities and Exchange Commission said it was considering reinstating the "Uptick Rule." The rule, eliminated in 2007, aimed at curbing short-selling by only allowing it when a stock edged higher.

Short-sellers "are having to think long and hard about how they're going to do business going forward," Caughey said. Lately, driving stocks lower through short-selling has "been like shooting fish in a barrel," she said.

The pharmaceutical industry was driven higher Thursday by more acquisition news.

Switzerland's Roche Holding AG agreed to buy the rest of Genentech Inc. for $46.8 billion, while Gilead Sciences Inc. agreed to buy CV Therapeutics Inc. for $1.4 billion. Earlier this week, drugmakers Merck and Schering-Plough agreed to merge in a $41 billion deal.

Bond prices fell as stocks rose. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note fell to 2.85 percent from 2.91 percent.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

[SMOKE 1,426]

get lost! we don't like good news around here.

its great...lets hope it keeps up.

[Volkswagon 0]

get lost! we don't like good news around here.

its great...lets hope it keeps up.

If it went down 300 points there would be dancing in the streets and calling for Obama's resignaion. I shudder to think what everyone here will do if the stimulus is actually somewhat successfull. Perhaps a mass suicide?

[tallcoolone 102]

Who Cares

[Volkswagon 0]

Who Cares

You should. Why do you hate America so much?

[tallcoolone 102]

Who Cares

You should. Why do you hate America so much?

I love America, and I love Texas ..

Texas First, and a American Second or Vice Versa

I have grown tired of this thread, Wake me when it gets interesting........

Edited March 12, 2009 by tallcoolone

[Volkswagon 0]

I love America, and I love Texas ..

Texas First,

That explains it.

[peejay 327]

Great! It certainly is better than the death spiral that has occurred since October of 2008 (and to a limited extent before October). However, if anyone thinks this is the end of the economic slide they are sadly mistaken. There is more hurt coming (in more ways than just the stock market decline).

BTW...at 52 years old I still had a nice little nest egg up until October even with the dip after the peak. I was at work offshore during the week the stock market took it's big sh*t. We were still without phone or internet from Huricane Ike damage to communications offshore. However, we did have satellite TV. All I could do was watch the market melt down on TV. No way to bail out. At this point many of us are stuck riding this out and hoping it eventually makes a limited come back in the coming years. And I am stressing years, not months. I'm not financially devastated, but my future has definitely been altered in a hugely negative way. I personally don't think this is the bottom. That will be in the future. It will eventually come back up from bottom, but not like it was. Those days are gone for a very long time. That was a huge bubble and it ain't coming back.

As for me...I'll continue my 401K contributions at this level. It is the only way to even out the bubble.

[Yoink 7]

I opened an online trading account today

[mRx 16]

Even a dead cat bounces up when you throw it at the ground.

[tallcoolone 102]

Even a dead cat bounces up when you throw it at the ground.

I am awake

[Ban Hammer 14,293]

Even a dead cat bounces up when you throw it at the ground.

mags is so gonna get you for that!

[britbird 4]

Meh...I don't look at my IRA/retirement etc. I'm young enough that it should rebound okay by the time retirement comes around.

Feel v. bad for the older peeps who didn't switch to bonds in time though.

Speaking of the market, Jim Cramer on the Daily Show should be fun to watch this evening...Jon Stewart has been on fire this week.

[Teacher Mark 53]

Obviously G.W.B.'s "fixes" are starting to take hold.

[peejay 327]

Obviously G.W.B.'s "fixes" are starting to take hold.

GWB don't work here anymore. They hired some other clown to take his place. Didn't you hear?