Stocks Post Second Day Of Gains Led By Retailers (BAC, DELL, INTC, X)

U.S. stocks opened lower than previous day close as investors tried to search for direction with no major economic news. By 10am stocks start to gather positive momentum and moved toward the plus side to close in the positive territory. The upward move was led by strong earnings from retailers, which helped the market overcome the negative pressure from high oil inventories.

The Dow Jones rose 9.69 points to 10,415.54, the S&P 500 climbed up 1.62 points to close at 1,094.16 for the day, and the Nasdaq also gained 6.26 points to 2,215.70.  The dollar fell against the yen and the euro today.

Word on the Street

• Rep. Barney Frank, chairman of the House Financial Services committee, said that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac should be phased out over time. Over the long-term, this should help bolster private mortgage companies. However, doing this all at once during this bad economic time would be like pulling the rug from under a house of card.
• I can’t wait until airlines start to charge for oxygen and pressurized cabin. Today, American Airlines announced a new fee for coach seats. For a fee, passengers can sit at the front of coach class and be among the first coach ticket holders to board the plane. This cost for privilege starts as low as $19 per flight. Wow.
• Bank of America (BAC) and Merrill Lynch will pay $2.5 million in restitution and fines after it failed to provide discounts to customers, the so-called “sales charge discounts” on unit investment trusts.
• There is a silent rebellion going on in the house of Dell (DELL). A year ago, CEO Michael Dell was re-elected to the board with 98 percent of shares voting in his favor. This time around that number dropped to 75%. It’s speculated that this is how some shareholders express their disapproval of how Dell allegedly used bribe money from Intel (INTC) to bolster its past earnings reports.
• Shares of U.S. Steel (X) rose by 4.8% for the day and options trades exploded when the rumor about it being a takeover target surfaced.
• Bank of America (BAC) reported that the number of homeowners applying for U.S. government’s program to alleviate foreclosures was slowing under the more restrictive guidelines recently implemented by the U.S. Treasury.

Other Juicy Tidbits

• New Jersey Charged With Securities Fraud — Today, New Jersey became the first state ever to be charged by the SEC for violations of federal securities laws.
• Billionaires’ First Jobs — Mark Zuckerberg is an oddity among billionaires because he hit the jackpot with his first full-time job. Other billionaires are not so “lucky”. Here are their stories.
• How Your Savings Account Is Ripping You Off — Savings account used to be a good way to save money. Unfortunately, time has changed and bank went from helping you save to robbing you blind.

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