DOW ran up 12314
May want to get that critical "The mkt believes in our plan" message in the headlines
Revising close to 12375-12400 area based on this
edit
here's what they want to see- positive reaction to "The Plan."
Probably why HBs are up- qtr's best looking window dressers
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Stocks Rise on Quarter's Final Day
Monday March 31, 12:56 pm ET
By Tim Paradis, AP Business Writer
Stocks Rise As Wall Street Digests Government Overhaul Plan; Chicago PMI Better Than Expected
NEW YORK (AP) -- Stocks rose Monday after a reading on regional manufacturing came in better than expected and as investors examined details of a government plan to overhaul the way Wall Street is regulated.
The Chicago Purchasing Managers Index, considered a precursor to the National Institute for Supply Management manufacturing survey on Tuesday, rose to 48.2 in March from 44.5 a month earlier. Economists had been expecting a reading of 47.3, according to Dow Jones Newswires. A figure below 50 indicates a contraction in manufacturing activity.
The manufacturing snapshot comes as many institutional investors have closed their books for the first quarter, which ends Monday. Investors appeared to be making few big moves. It has been a dismal quarter on Wall Street, with financial companies' continuing credit market losses and the flagging economy wiping out investors' appetite for stocks. While the market has seen a number of up days during the quarter, overall the first-quarter trend was sharply lower.
Wall Street appeared unmoved by a speech from Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson on the plan to reorganize oversight of Wall Street; details of the 218-page plan have been widely reported in recent days. It would give the Federal Reserve increased power to protect the stability of the entire financial system while merging day-to-day supervision of banks into one agency, down from five under the existing system.
Stephen Carl, head of equity trading at The Williams Capital Group, said the overall session was a quiet one but that investors might take some time to square away any loose ends on their books as the quarter ends.
"I think people are kind of where they want to be for the quarter and then may be a little bit opportunistic for the next quarter," he said, suggesting some investors might try to snap up bargains after several sessions of declines.
In midday trading, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 61.47, or 0.50 percent, to 12,277.71.
Broader stock indicators rose. The Standard & Poor's 500 index advanced 6.58, or 0.50 percent, to 1,321.80, and the Nasdaq composite index rose 11.53, or 0.51 percent, to 2,272.71.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by about 3 to 2 on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to 558.6 million shares.
The dollar rose against several other major currencies, including the euro, easing pressure on commodities such as oil and gold. Light, sweet crude fell $3.44 to $102.18 on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while gold dropped $10.70 to $919.90, also on the Nymex.
Bond prices rose. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, fell to 3.41 percent from 3.45 percent late Friday.
Scott Wren, senior equity strategist for A.G. Edwards & Sons in St. Louis said Wall Street was seeing a relatively quiet session as investors await economic data due this week on the manufacturing and service sectors as well as employment.
"It's likely to stay a pretty low volume day just in anticipation on what's going to come in the rest of the week. People are not going to do too much. They're just going to try to wrap up and look ahead," he said, referring to quarter's end.
In corporate news, Merck & Co. fell $6.84, or 15 percent, to $37.67 and Schering-Plough Inc. declined $5.08, or 26 percent, to $14.39 after medical researchers said the companies' joint anti-cholesterol drug, Vytorin, failed to improve heart disease. The researchers' findings, published on the Internet by the New England Journal of Medicine, urged a return to more established treatments for cholesterol.
Citigroup Inc. plans to split its consumer banking unit from its credit card business as part of a broader reorganization to cut costs and simplify the large financial institution's structure. The company suffered billions of dollars in losses from investments in poor-quality mortgages. Citi rose 49 cents, or 2.4 percent, to $21.32.
The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 3.87, or 0.57 percent, to 687.03.
Overseas, Japan's Nikkei stock average fell 2.30 percent. Britain's FTSE 100 rose 0.16 percent, Germany's DAX index fell 0.28 percent, and France's CAC-40 rose 0.24 percent.
New York Stock Exchange: nyse.com
Nasdaq Stock Market: nasdaq.com |
