Geithner Whips Wall Street, Stocks Surge, Google Cuts

Stocks moved strongly to extend the biggest rally since 1987 despite ominous news of Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner moving to whip Wall Street with a series of new regulations and oversights. Big brother is moving quickly into the free markets, yet this fact is overwhelmed by record low valuations and positive economic/company news triggering an investor buying frenzy. The DJIA surged +174.75 to 7924.56, the Nasdaq advanced +58.05 to 1587.00 and the S&P 500 climbed +18.98 to 832.86.

Google
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– Announced the slashing of 200 sales jobs sending the stock higher by 2.68% or $9.22 to $353.29/share.

Best Buy
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– Rallied 12.58% or $4.21 to $37.67/share after beating analysts earnings estimates and providing rosy guidance into 2010.

Dr.Pepper Snapple
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– Climbed 15.22% or $2.36 to $17.87/share upon announcing it plans to beat EPS estimates.

Texas Industries
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– The cement maker surged 28.13% or $5.76 to $26.24/share after beating analysts estimates as a result of cust cutting and plant shutdowns.

Gold added 4.20 cents to $942.20, Oil advanced $1.57 to $54.03 and the fear index VIX fell 4.47% to 40.36.

Market Snapshot

Dow

+174.75 7924.56

NASDAQ

+58.05 1587.00

S&P 500

+18.98 832.86

Economic
News

Existing Home Sales (Feb): Consensus: 4.45M, Prior: 4.49M

Durable Goods Orders (Feb): Consensus: -2.4%, Prior: -5.2%

Durables, Ex-Transportation (Feb): Consensus: -2.0%, Prior: -2.5%

New Home Sales (Feb): Consensus: 300K, Prior: 309K

Crude Inventories (March 20): Consensus: NA, Prior: +1942K

Initial Claims (March 21): Consensus: 650K, Prior: NA

Q4 GDP – Final (Q4): Consensus: -6.6%, Prior: -6.2%

GDP Price Index (Q4): Consensus: 0.5%, Prior: 0.5%

Personal Income (Feb): Consensus: -0.1%, Prior: 0.4%

Personal Spending (Feb): Consensus: 0.3%, Prior: 0.6%

Mich Sentiment-Rev (March): Consensus: 56.0, Prior: NA