U.S. Markets
Dow +261.66 (+2.16%)
Nasdaq +48.15 (+2.18%)
S&P 500 +31.09 (+2.39%)
News That Moved the Market
Good Thursday. We will not know for at least a couple days if this is simply a bear market rally or an indication that markets actually hit a bottom last week, but it would be difficult to deny the market looked strong today. On solid volume, stocks were bid up throughout the day, helped by more good news coming out of the financial sector. Fannie Mae (FNM, +11.5%) and Freddie Mac (FRE, +9.0%) were upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods. The Fed also announced it has expanded acceptable collateral for its auction of Treasuries to include collateralized mortgage obligations (CMOs) and AAA rated commercial mortgage-backed securities. The Fed will basi cally be exchanging highly liquid Treasuries for illiquid assets. The first auction will take place March 27th, with an offering of $75 billion for a term of 28 days.
Commodities Slide. With the U.S. dollar showing some strength, most commodities fell for the second day in a row. Crude traded below $100/barrel during the session before closing down $0.70 to $101.84. Gold fell $25.30 to $912.22/ounce.
Investors Jump Out of CIT. CIT Group (CIT, -17.2%), the largest commercial finance company in the U.S., was forced to tap its $7.3 billion credit line to repay debt. After a ratings downgrade, the company was unable to raise funds through commercial paper. CEO Jeffrey Peek said the CIT may be forced to sell assets and is looking for a "strategic funding partner."
Quick Tics:
The Philly Fed, a leading manufacturing indicator, came in at -17.1, a better than expected reading…
G.E. (GE, +5.3%) received an upgrade to "Buy" from "Hold" from Merrill Lynch (MER, +13.0%)...
Citigroup (C, +10.2%) will layoff 2,000 investment bankers and traders.
Markets Closed Tomorrow For Good Friday.
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