Stocks Roar Alive, Greece Saved, Obama’s Jobs Package

The stock market roared alive today on news of the European Union considering extending aid to struggling Greece. The bearish slide was cut short with stocks surging higher by the close. Bullish news from a Morgan Stanley upgrade of infrastructure equipment maker Caterpillar and Obama’s employment package worked to change bearish sentiment into optimism. The DJIA closed higher by +150.25 to 10058.64, the Nasdaq added +24.82 to 2150.87, and the S&P 500 climbed by +13.78 to 1070.52.

^CAT^: A Morgan Stanley upgrade to “overweight” sent this heavy equipment operator higher by 5.34% or $2.71 to $53.49/share.

^KO^: Shares climbed by 2.54% or $1.34 to $53.99 after meeting analysts profit expectations and anticipation of greater sales in emerging markets.

^GME^: Failed to participate in the rally falling 4.42% or 87 cents to $18.84/share after a Credit Suisse downgrade.

^LUV^: Advanced 3.64% or 41 cents to $11.65/share after announcing the first traffic increase since May 2008.

Oil added $2.19 to $74.07, gold grew by $5.80 to $1072.00 and the VIX index fell by 1.92% to 26.00.

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Market Snapshot

Dow

+150.25 10058.64

NASDAQ

+24.82 2150.87

S&P 500

+13.78 1070.52
Economic
News

Wholesale Inventories (Dec): Consensus: 0.5%, Prior: 1.5%

Trade Balance (Dec): Consensus: -$35.5B, Prior: -$36.4B

Crude Inventories (2/5): Consensus: NA, Prior: 2.32M

Treasury Budget (Jan): Consensus: -$50.0B, Prior: -$91.9B

Initial Claims (02/06): Consensus: 465K, Prior: 480K

Continuing Claims (02/06): Consensus: 4590K, Prior: 4602K

Retail Sales (Jan): Consensus: 0.5%, Prior: -0.3%

Retail Sales ex-auto (Jan): Consensus: 0.5%, Prior: -0.2%

Business Inventories (Dec): Consensus: 0.3%, Prior: 0.4%

Mich Sentiment (Feb): Consensus: 75.0, Prior: 74.4