Stocks Roar, Financials Lead, Rates Steady

Stocks roared to life today adding to the multi day rally underway. The FOMC’s decision to keep interest rates steady near zero combined with optimism over the government’s plan to buy banks troubled assets triggered an aggressive full day of up moves in the stock market. The DJIA surged +200.72 to 8375.45, the tech heavy Nasdaq jumped +53.44 to 1558.34 and the broad based S&P 500 pushed ahead +28.38 to 874.09.

Wells Fargo
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– Leading the financial sector charge, the stock Exploded up 30.95% or $5.01 to $21.20/share on renewed optimism of the government’s plan to buy troubled assets.

Century Aluminum
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– Plummeted 37.42% or $2.75 to $4.60/share after announcing its plan to issue additional stock thereby diluting earnings.

Royal Caribbean Cruises
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– Fell 12.50% or $1.30 to $9.10/share upon being downgraded to underweight by Barclays.

Yahoo
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– Added 7.94% or 0.90 cents to $12.24/share after beating analysts 4th quarter estimates.

Oil climbed 0.58 cents to $42.30, gold fell $11.40 to $890.00 and the VIX fear index gave back 6.13% to $39.66.

Market Snapshot

Dow

+200.72 8375.45

NASDAQ

+53.44 1558.34

S&P 500

+28.38 874.09

Economic
News

Existing Home Sales (Dec): Consensus: 4.40M, Prior: 4.49M

Leading Indicators (Dec): Consensus: -0.3%, Prior: -0.4%

Consumer Confidence (Jan): Consensus: 38.0, Prior: 38.0

S&P/CaseShiller Composite (Nov): Consensus: NA, Prior: -18.04%

Crude Inventories (Jan. 23): Consensus: NA, Prior: 6.1 min

FOMC Rate Decision (Jan. 28): Consensus: NA, Prior: 0-0.25

Durable Orders (Dec): Consensus: -1.8%, Prior: -1.5%

Initial Claims (Jan. 24): Consensus: 575K, Prior: 589K

New Home Sales (Dec): Consensus: 400K, Prior: 407K

Chain Deflator-Adv. (Q4): Consensus: 0.6%, Prior: 3.9%

GDP-Adv. (Q4): Consensus: -5.4%, Prior: -0.5%

Chicago PMI (Jan): Consensus: 34.0, Prior: 34.1

Mich Sentiment-Rev (Jan): Consensus: 61.9, Prior: 61.9

Employment Cost Index (Q4): Consensus: 0.7%, Prior: 0.7%