Daily Summary....

U.S. Markets

Dow +96.4
Nasdaq +8.15
S&P 500 +8.33

News That Moved the Market

Stocks Higher With Fed Looming. Markets finished the day up once again, as investors are looking forward to tomorrow's Fed announcement. A 25 basis point cut is already priced in, and Fed fund futures also indicate that the market sees a 74% chance the Fed will cut 50 basis points. Durable goods orders also gave a boost to the market, coming in with a 5.2% gain, easily beating economists' predictions of a 1.6% increase. Markets did drop after the Conference Board announced that consumer confidence fell to 87.9 from 90.6 in December, but they were able to recover with a late rally in the afternoon.

Stimulus Plans Goes to Senate. The House approved the $146 billion economic stimulus plan, which is expected to give rebate checks to 111 million Americans. The bill will now go to the Senate, where some members say they will try to alter the current version, putting some uncertainty on when the rebates will actually go out. Though the plan will put more money in American consumers' hands, many are simply looking at the move as more election year politics and that seems hard argue.

VMWare Plunges. VMWare (VMW, -34.0%) fell hard after missing fourth-quarter targets Monday night. The company is down more than 50% from its peak of over $120/share last year. The company's outlook also disappointed.

Bank of America Reaffirms Countrywide Deal. Bank of America (BAC, +1.8%) CEO Kenneth Lewis reassured Countrywide (CFC, +6.0%) investors that BofA had enough capital to purchase Countrywide after the bank's $13 billion sale of preferred stock last week.

Tomorrow Notable Earnings:

Kraft (KFT) Before Open
UPS (UPS) Before Open
Boeing (BA) Before Open
Amazon (AMZN) After Close
Starbucks (SBUX) After Close

Economic Events:

8:15 AM: ADP Employment Report
8:30 AM: GDP (Advance)
10:30 AM: Crude Inventories
2:15 PM: FOMC Announcement