Rates Staying Low, Home Sales Best, Stocks Surge

The stock market bulls took full control for the second day this week. Shares surged on word from Shanghai that Chicago Fed Chief Evans stated rates will remain “accommodative” for at least 6 months. Existing Home Sales falling less than expected and growing demand for computer chips further powered stocks higher. The DJIA surged +102.94 to 10888.83, the tech heavy Nasdaq advanced +19.84 to 2415.24 and the broad based S&P 500 climbed +8.36 to 1174.17.

^MET^: Experienced its first losing year since its IPO cut CEO Robert Henrikson’s pay whiles shares climbed 1.08% or 45 cents to $42.17.

^SKS^: Shares rallied 2.28% or 20 cents to $8.96 upon a JP Morgan upgrade to “overweight”.

^CAT^: Led the DJIA higher after being upgraded to “market outperform” at Avondale Partners. Shares climbed 4.10% or $2.46 to $62.41.

^AMSC^: Surged 8.65% or $2.26 to $28.40/share after being upgraded to “buy” at Jefferies Group.

Gold added $6.30 to $1105.90, oil eased higher by 30 cents to $81.90 and the VIX index dropped 3.08% to 16.35.

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Market Snapshot

Dow

+102.94 10,888.83

NASDAQ

+19.84 2,415.24

S&P 500

+8.36 1,174.17
Economic
News

Existing Home Sales (Feb): Consensus: 5.00M, Prior: 5.05M

FHFA Home Price Index (Jan): Consensus: -0.9%, Prior: -1.6%

Durable Orders (Feb): Consensus: 0.5%, Prior: 2.6%

Durable Orders ex Auto (Feb): Consensus: 0.5%, Prior: -1.0%

New Home Sales (Feb): Consensus: 315K, Prior: 309K

Crude Inventories (03/20): Consensus: NA, Prior: 1.01M

Continuing Claims (03/13): Consensus: 4560K, Prior: 4579K

Initial Claims (03/20): Consensus: 450K, Prior: 457K

GDP – Third Estimate (Q4): Consensus: 5.9%, Prior: 5.9%

GDP Deflator – Third Estimate(Q4): Consensus: 0.4%, Prior: 0.4%

Michigan Sentiment – Final (Mar): Consensus: 73.0, Prior: 72.5